Inlustrum
by with the monsters
Summary: Hatred never really leaves much space for realism. - —DominiqueScorpius
1. chapter i

**a/n**: This Lent I had a bet with Aiiimy as to whether or not I'd be able to give up Bradley Cooper. I thought I would be able to, she didn't. The bet was that if I won, she had to write me a 10k MollyLorcan, and if she won, I had to write her a 10k DominiqueScorpius.

Sadly, I slipped up while I was away in France and we were having a family conversation about Rachel McAdams which moved onto Wedding Crashers and inevitably I chipped in to remind everyone that Bradley Cooper was in that film… I don't think I've been so annoyed with myself in a very long time.

Anyhow, the next day I set to writing this. The agreement was a 10k oneshot, but I reached 20k words in five days and realised there was no way I could publish this as a oneshot. So I've decided to make it a multichapter because otherwise everyone will refuse to read it. I'll put a word count for each chapter up so Aimy can affirm that it makes 10k.

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><p>For <span>Aiiimy<span>.

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><p><span>inlustrum<span>  
><strong>DominiqueScorpius<strong>

i know it's late but i can't help but thinking  
>that the day hasn't shown all its cards.<br>_- Dark Roman Wine, Snow Patrol_

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><p>chapter one : (4390)<p>

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><p>The fact of the matter is that Dominique Weasley hates Scorpius Malfoy. It's as simple as that. It's one of those basic facts that are knitted into the fabric of Hogwarts, like how Gryffindors have recklessness issues and Lysander Scamander is always in detention.<p>

To be fair, it is a little unexpected. It was always supposed to be Rose who hated Scorpius, after all, thanks to the little scene with her father on the station in her first year. But Rose has this thing about not living up to expectations and she was thoroughly determined not to be a cliché from day one so she marched up to Scorpius when they got Sorted into Gryffindor together and shook his hand and said, "Hi, I'm Rose."

And he replied, "Hi, I'm Scorpius," and from that moment on they coexisted. They're not friends, which is a massive relief to Dominique, but they're not enemies either. They just _are_. And it works fine for them, so who cares if everybody else is just the tiniest bit disappointed?

Dominique meets Scorpius for the first time the following summer when Al – who, for reasons incomprehensible to most of the Weasley family, has become best friends with him – brings him back to the Potter's house for Lily's tenth birthday.

Dominique, at eleven, is bouncing off the walls as she sneaks yet another fistful of sweets, dodging her overbearing mother and pretending she doesn't notice the mudstains up the side of the white dress she was forced into under protest.

"Dominique!" another voice yells crossly, and Dom literally skids to a halt as she recognises her elder sister's voice. Victoire, at eighteen, is looking more impossibly beautiful than ever as she stalks across the Potter's garden, glaring at her younger sister.

"For Merlin's sake, Dom, you have to behave," Victoire chides breathlessly, tugging one of her heels where it's become lodged in the lawn, "You've got to be grown up else Maman'll be sending you letters every five minutes when you get to Hogwarts. Trust me."

"I am grown up," Dominique protests, hiding sticky fingers behind her back, "I'm going to go to Hogwarts and I'll be the most grown up there is!"

"That made no grammatical sense whatsoever," Victoire informs her, then pulls out her wand and quickly _tergeo_s the dirt off Dominique's dress, "C'mon, come with me to say happy birthday to Lily."

"_Everyone's _saying happy birthday to Lily," Dominique argues, but wipes her hands on her dress quickly, prompting another eye roll and _tergeo _charm from Victoire, and then takes her sister's hand as they cross the garden to where Lily is holding court.

At ten, Lily looks like nothing so much as a street urchin plucked out of a brawl and dumped into the middle of the party. With grass stains on both knees, a huge ragamuffin beam near splitting her cheeks in two and her green eyes dancing as she laughs at one or other of the Scamander twin's antics, Lily is definitely the life and soul of the party, even if she is the youngest-but-one of all her cousins.

"Hello, birthday girl," Victoire says, letting go of Dominique and bending to give Lily a hug, "How does it feel to be ten finally?"

"Great!" Lily responds cheerily, clutching tightly around Victoire's neck, displacing that perfect blonde hair, "Like being nine, only better!"

Victoire laughs and disentangles her cousin, turning to give Dominique a shove forward.

"Happy birthday," Dominique mutters, because she's eleven and it's hopelessly uncool to associate with somebody who's a year younger than you, no matter that she and Lily used to be bestbest friends, "I hope you like our present."

Lily glances over to where the large present from Bill, Fleur, Dominique and Victoire is sitting at the bottom of the pile and beams.

"Thanks, Dom," she says brightly, that big grin still in place, "I hope you have fun at Hogwarts."

Dominique's smile widens now, much more genuinely this time, "Thanks! I'm really nervous, actually, in case I don't get Gryffindor."

"Merlin, I _hope _I don't get Gryffindor!" Lily exclaims fervently, ignoring the looks of shock from those around her – Potters go into Gryffindor, that's another of those basic facts of life, "Imagine being stuck in the same house as James and Al for six years, _eurgh_."

Victoire laughs where she is hovering over the pair and ruffles Lily's ragged curls, "I'm sure you'll think differently when you get there."

"Nuh uh!" Lily protests, ducking aside and giggling, "Anywhere but Gryffindor! I'd even take Hufflepuff. I hate books so I can't be Ravenclaw like you, after all."

"What if you get Slytherin?" Dominique breathes in horror, hands at her mouth, but Lily just throws her head back and laughs uproariously.

"We'll just have to wait and see," she announces when she's done laughing, but when she looks at Dominique this time those greengreen eyes are glittering with promises and something else that, when Dominique reflects later in life, can be nothing but pure lust for the idea of being Sorted into Slytherin.

At that moment, the whole party seems to still and Dominique whips her head around to find the cause of this surprise. She finds everybody staring at two boys in the doorway to the Potter's house, one blonde and one dark-haired, standing gazing around themselves. The dark-haired boy is smiling a little apprehensively, eyes very wary under his fringe as he gazes around at his gathered family and the various hangers-on. The blonde is the picture of arrogance, and for a twelve-year-old he has a very imposing presence.

Dominique unintentionally shrinks behind Victoire a little and whispers to Lily, "Who's _that_?"

"Scorpius Malfoy," Lily whispers back, and the volume of her voice rises as people gradually begin to start chattering again, casting suspicious glances at the two boys, "He's Al's best friend. We're all supposed to hate him but Al likes him so he can't be too bad."

"I'm not sure I trust Al's judgement," Dominique informs her, her eyes trained on the duo as they mingle into the party, Al having to actively tug Scorpius along behind him at some points, "He told me that trying to dye my hair purple would be a good idea."

Lily snorts in an undignified manner at the memory, unable to help laughing, and Dominique is chuckling despite herself when Albus and Scorpius suddenly appear in front of them.

"Hey Lils," Albus says easily, looking the picture of relaxation in the summer sun, "You know Scorpius already. Scorp, this is my cousin Dominique. Dominique, Scorpius."

Dominique glances around for back-up, but Victoire has disappeared to talk to Teddy who is laughing exuberantly with a friend at the other end of the garden.

"Alright," Scorpius drawls, taking a sip of the drink in his hand, his eyes raking her up and down in a remarkably unsettling manner, "Nice dress."

Dominique glances down at the frilly dress, and when she looks back up there is mocking laughter dancing in Scorpius' cold grey eyes.

"Nice drink stain," Dominique compliments in return, and when he glances down at his front to reassure himself that she's seeing things she steps forward in one smooth motion and knocks his drink out of his hand, sending a creeping red stain down his shirt that spreads as they watch.

"_Dom_," Albus reproaches in horror, giving her a shove backwards, "What on Earth was that for?"

Behind Dominique, Lily is doubled over with laughter, clutching her stomach. Dominique squares her shoulders, glaring in equal parts at Al and Scorpius. To her horror, Scorpius is merely looking faintly amused, his hair very blonde in the sunshine.

"Don't patronise me," she commands firmly, crossing her arms, expression thunderous, "It's rude."

Scorpius is just opening his mouth to reply when Teddy suddenly appears in between the girls and the boys, hair gradually flushing from a celebratory gold to a warning red.

"Is there a problem here?" he inquires in an even, steady tone, eyes casting suspiciously over Scorpius and then softening when they come to rest on Lily.

"None at all," Scorpius replies evenly, every line of his body screaming nonchalant superiority, "I was just on my way to find a clean shirt."

And, with one last supercilious glance backwards, he has disappeared into the crowd.

"Please, Dom, be nicer next time," Al pleads as he begins to follow his friend, "He was very brave to come here."

"He's a prat," Dominique retorts firmly, arms crossed, and Al is about to reply when Teddy takes him gently by the shoulders and gives him a shove back towards the house.

"Go find him a shirt," he orders firmly, and then turns back to Dominique with his arms folded, one eyebrow arched down at her, "So I'm guessing you knocked his drink over him?"

"A little," Dominique confesses, one foot scuffing in the dust, "He was rude."

"That temper of yours is going to get you in serious trouble one day," Teddy warns her, but there's a grin starting at the corner of his eyes and Dominique knows she's not in trouble.

"That peace-making complex of yours is going to get _you _in serious trouble one day," she shoots back, and he chuckles and then staggers backwards as Lily springs out of nowhere onto his back and clings on tightly around his neck.

"Bloody hell, Lily!" he exclaims as he tries to unhook her, but she just clutches tighter and giggles and informs him that Victoire is looking for him, giving Dominique a wink from over his shoulder. Dominique laughs, the tiff with Scorpius already forgotten, and goes off to see if she can persuade some unsuspecting adult to transfigure her dress into jeans and a t-shirt.

;;

On Platform 9¾ on the first of September, Dominique is trying to wriggle out of her mother's embrace.

"Maman, please, I'm going to miss the train!"

"'ow am I going to cope wizout you?" Fleur demands, peppering kisses onto her daughter's hair, "Eet will be _trop_ quiet! Now Victoire eez going to university, I will 'ave _no-one_. _Ne personne_."

"You've got Dad," Dominique points out validly, managing to free her face enough to send a helpless look up at her father, who just grins and makes no move to aid her, "And I'll be back at Christmas!"

Fortunately she is saved from suffocation by her Uncle Percy, who appears with Lucy and Molly in tow. Lucy, already wearing her Hogwarts robes, is looking like she can barely contain herself with excitement, trying desperately to pin her blonde hair back while fending off her younger sister at the same time.

"For Merlin's sake, Molly!" Lucy exclaims as Percy greets Bill and Fleur, the latter finally releasing Dominique, "Let _go_! You're going to be fine at home by yourself! Lily is without James and Al, isn't she?"

"Please take me with you!" Molly begs, totally ignoring Lucy, suddenly releasing her sister and attaching herself to Dominique instead, "_Please_. I'll do _anything_."

"You're not old enough, Molls," Dominique reasons gently, prying her cousin off, "It'll be your turn in a couple of years. 'Sides, think about it – you've got your parents all to yourself, and you'll get all the cake and stuff like that. How cool is that?"

Molly looks slightly happier and lets go of Dominique, short red curls bouncing as she skips up to her father.

"Daddy, can we go to the zoo tomorrow?" she asks brightly, tugging on his sleeve and ignoring the fact that he's talking to Bill, straining up onto tiptoes to try to get his attention, "_Pleeeeease_?"

"I'm talking, Molly," he tells her with barely a pause. Undeterred, Molly continues tugging at his sleeve, and Bill takes advantage of Percy's distraction to usher Lucy and Dominique towards the train.

"C'mon, girls, before Fleur realises you're leaving," he commands, levitating their trunks for them and hurrying them along, "Did your mother not come today, Luce?"

"Nah," Lucy replies, looking quite unbothered, "She said she had a meeting today. She was dressed up really pretty for it too. But she put on too much perfume, it made Molly sneeze five times in a row."

Bill looks vaguely preoccupied as he helps the two girls up onto the train, leaving them with their trunks, but manages a big smile as Dominique leans down to hug him.

"Have fun, lovely," he tells her, putting his arms around her slim form, smiling into her hair, "You're going to be brilliant. And don't worry about the Sorting. We'll love you whatever."

"Thanks, Daddy," Dominique replies, hugging him tightly, suddenly ragingly reluctant to let him go. But she does, somehow, and backs off so Percy can say goodbye to Lucy, hugging her tightly and then lifting Molly up to hug her too.

"Bye, girls!" Percy calls as they disappear onto the train, searching for a compartment. They pass one full of very rowdy third years, and Lucy actively winces as a particularly loud yell tumbles out of the door. They make it about three metres before a black-haired boy almost falls out, turning to swear amiably at the person who attempted to trip him, and hollers at them.

"Luce! Dom!"

The two girls turn and find James bearing down on them, beaming magnanimously, jumper on back-to-front, "Why don't you come sit with us?"

"Thanks," Dominique says, watching in amusement as something sails towards the compartment window and splats messily against it, "But if it's alright we'll find some other first years to sit with. Get to know them and stuff, y'know?"

"Okay," James replies with a shrug, and then reaches out and ruffles both of their hair at the same time, looking like a proud parent, "I can't believe it, you two at Hogwarts already!"

"Oh, shut it," Dominique mutters, but James is already disappearing back into his compartment and slamming the door behind himself.

"One obstacle safely navigated," Lucy comments with a chuckle as they carry on down the train, passing more full compartments, lugging their trunks with their faces getting redder and redder from the effort.

Eventually they find a compartment with only three other occupants, all looking out of the window waving goodbye to parents, and exchange a look before sliding in.

"Hey," Dominique says brightly, summoning all her courage, "Mind if we sit with you? We're first years."

"Us too," says the only other girl in the compartment, turning around and looking relieved at female company, "I'm –"

"Grace!" Lucy interrupts, pushing past Dominique and beaming down at the other girl, "Grace Longbottom! You come to birthday parties and stuff with us. Your dad's friends with some of our aunts and uncles."

"Lucy!" Grace exclaims in delight, hopping up and giving Lucy a big hug, and then Dominique one just because, grinning all the while, "Merlin, I thought I wouldn't know anyone!"

"You remember Dom though, right? She knocked a drink on Albus' friend Scorpius at Lily's party," Lucy presses, beginning to huff and puff as she tries to get her trunk up onto the rack. Grace nods and tries to help, but when it becomes obvious that they're struggling one of the boys finally drags his attention away from his waving mother and leaps up to help them.

"You know me," he says, and Dominique does a double-take as she recognises him, calculating that he must have grown a good few centimetres since she last saw him, "Lorcan Scamander. Lysander's just on his way – my dad caught him trying to smuggle his salamander onto the train."

Dominique laughs and abandons her trunk to hug him, relieved that she knows another person, "Lorcan! It's so nice to see you!"

"Yeah, yeah," Lorcan deflects, blushing slightly as she releases him, turning his attention back to helping Grace and Lucy with the trunk as the other boy moves to give Dominique a hand.

"I'm Tristan," he tells her, practically shaking with shyness, "Tristan Edgemoore. It's nice to meet you."

"Dominique Weasley," Dominique replies as they give her trunk one final shove and install it safely on the rack, shaking his hand and beaming, "Nice to meet you too. Have you got any brothers or sisters at Hogwarts already?"

"No," Tristan informs her as they flop down onto one of the seats, Grace, Lucy, and Lorcan taking seats on the other side, "I've got three older brothers but none of them can do magic. I'd never even heard of Hogwarts before I got the letter on my birthday."

"You're Muggle-born?" Lucy demands in abject delight, leaping up from her seat and snuggling cosily down next to him, "Can you explain something to me? I saw a girl with…"

Dominique tunes out as Lucy goes off on one of her Muggle-centred rants, grinning idly across at Lorcan and Grace, not needing to explain to them Lucy's weird fascination with all things Muggle that she apparently inherited from her paternal grandfather.

Lucy is distracted as a doppelganger of Lorcan tumbles through the compartment door, slamming it shut behind him and falling heavily into a sitting position against the wall beneath the window, breathing rough and desperate.

"Did he see me?" he demands of Lorcan, who merely rolls his eyes and shakes his head. Looking around, the boy catches sight of Lucy and Dominique next to each other. A massive beam nearly splits his face in two as he recognises them, "Lucy! Dominique! How are you guys?"

"Not bad, thanks, Ly," Dominique replies with a grin – Lysander has always been able to make her laugh, "Yourself?"

"Eh, so-so," he replies, still beaming, blonde curls flopping onto his forehead as he rummages around in a pocket and withdraws a lizard, holding it in cupped hands and bringing it up into a shaft of sunlight to examine it, "Dad found Hitchcock in the car on the way here. He set my pocket on fire."

_The salamander_, Lorcan mouths when Tristan, Lucy, Grace, and Dominique all shoot confused looks at him. Lysander, turning the salamander over, is oblivious to this.

"I didn't realise we were allowed salamanders," Grace ventures after a short, slightly stunned silence, all of them rocking as the train begins to move, "I thought it was just owls, cats, rats, or toads."

"We're not," Lorcan informs her, with the air of one who has had to elucidate this multiple times.

"That's why I had to evade my dad," Lysander explains, finishing the sentence for him, shoving Hitchcock the salamander back into a pocket and then clambering up and shoving his way onto the seat between his brother and Grace, looking pleased with himself, "I'll just install him in the fire when we get to Hogwarts."

The train gathers speed as Dominique, Lorcan, and Grace all begin to discuss the latest Quidditch results and Lysander pulls a sketchpad out of his pocket, examining some slightly singed drawings, as Lucy continues to cross-examine Tristan on the finer workings of iPods.

They've been travelling about ten minutes when a boy and a girl poke their heads into the compartment, looking worried, "Um, I don't suppose you're first years?" the boy enquires.

"Yup, we are," Dominique announces cheerily, hopping off her seat to pull the door open for them and beckoning them in, "I'm Dominique, that's Lucy – she's my cousin, then there's Lorcan and Lysander, they're twins –"

"_Really_?" Lysander butts in sarcastically, grinning.

"And Grace and Tristan," Dominique continues blithely, ignoring Lysander and smiling, "Who're you?"

"I'm Saoirse," the girl ventures, the hint of an Irish brogue just breaking through her voice, despite her obvious efforts to the contrary, "Saoirse Finnigan."

"And I'm Jack," the boy informs them, helping Saoirse get her trunk up onto the rack before doing his own with apparently little effort, taking a seat gratefully as Dominique shuffles up to make room, "Sasha and I've been looking for other first years for _ages_."

"Saoirse," Saoirse corrects with the exasperated air of having told him this many times already, "It's not that hard. Say it with me. _Sorr-_sha."

"Whatever, Sasha," Jack tells her with a grin, and they all laugh as Saoirse jabs him hard in the shoulder and then takes a seat between Grace and Lysander.

Half an hour later and the conversation has rolled inevitably to the Sorting.

"I hope I'm Gryffindor," Saoirse says fervently, hands on heart, "Both my parents were and so are my sisters and brothers."

"How many brothers and sisters do you have?" Dominique asks her, and winces as Saoirse announces, "Six."

"Ouch," says Grace, "I thought I had it bad with two sisters."

"They're not so bad," Saoirse defends with a grin, "At least I know what to expect."

"Unlike me," Tristan puts in, looking more and more at ease in the relaxed atmosphere, "I'm the first in my family so I have no clue. I didn't even realise there were houses at Hogwarts."

"Yup," Lorcan explains, smiling, "There's Gryffindor for brave people, Ravenclaw for smart-alecks, Hufflepuff for loyal people and Slytherin for mean people."

"_Cunning _people," Dominique corrects, giving him a glare, "Being Slytherin doesn't automatically make you mean. Some of my cousin's best friends are Slytherin."

"Yeah, but, let's be honest, who really _wants _to be a Slytherin?" Lorcan presses, and the others all shudder in agreement, leaving them all rolling around laughing.

"Well, I want Hufflepuff," Lucy announces firmly, Grace next to her nodding furiously in agreement, "I'm not brave and I'm rubbish at learning."

"Says the girl who speaks four languages," Dominique shoots back with an eye-roll, and Lucy blushes as all eyes switch towards her in shock.

"Four, seriously?" Tristan asks, breaking the surprised silence, "How come?"

"Well when I was little I got really annoyed at not being able to understand when my Aunt Fleur – Dom's mum – talked to Victoire in French. So I decided to learn French."

"Just like that," Dominique mutters good-naturedly, grinning, "And then what was next, Luce?"

"Well, I liked French so I went for Spanish, but that got boring after a while so I switched to Russian."

Most other mouths in the compartment are hanging open by this point, apart from Lysander, whose pocket has just been set on fire by Hitchcock (again). He beats out the flames calmly, barely even flinching, and then in an unruffled tone, turns to Lucy and inquires, "And what's the last one?"

"Italian," Lucy replies, sticking her chin in the air as if to defy ridicule, "I like the way it sounds."

"Bloody hell," Lorcan ventures finally, looking at Lucy with newfound respect, "How did you learn them all?"

"Uncle Percy reckons it's some weird outlet of her magic," Dominique explains idly, unable to help beaming with pride, "Like, instead of being really good at Charms or whatever, her brain just gets languages. It's bizarre. You speak a word or a grammar rule or something to her, like, _once_ and she just knows it from then on."

"Well, I'm jealous," Saoirse decides eventually, grinning, "I wish I could do something cool like that. Instead I get my one burst of magic at five where I smash a vase, and that's it."

They all laugh and Lucy's blush starts to fade, and the conversation returns to houses.

"I don't really care where I am, so long as it's not Slytherin," Lysander announces cheerfully, "Although Hufflepuff might be fun. I like yellow."

"You'd never be Hufflepuff, Ly," Lorcan protests, "You're not anywhere near nice enough."

"Thanks for the vote of confidence," Lysander teases, and Dominique splutters with laughter in a most undignified manner, and she's about to comment that she suspects Lorcan might get Hufflepuff when their compartment door slides open and a bushy-haired girl appears.

"Hey Lucy, hey Dominique!" she exclaims, nearly tripping over Grace's feet as she enters, "Just wanted to see how you were getting on – oh, hi Grace. And Lysander and Lorcan! Didn't take you guys long to find each other."

"Hey Rose," Dominique says brightly, grinning up at her cousin, "We're fine thanks. Talking about the Sorting."

"Take my advice and don't think about it," Rose warns seriously, "You'll do your nut otherwise. I nearly went mental on my first train ride."

"We'll bear that in mind," Lucy says with a smile, "Thanks. Have you got –"

She's cut off suddenly as another person strides into the compartment, horribly familiar to Dominique, and turns his attention straight to Tristan.

"Are you related to Arthur Edgemoore? You look like him."

"He's my brother," Tristan replies in surprise, shrinking backwards into his seat, such is the magnetic force of this newcomer, "D'you know him?"

"Are you kidding me? He's, like, the greatest show jumper in the _country_."

Oblivious to protests, Scorpius makes Lucy, Jack, and Dominique budge up so he can sit down next to Tristan.

"You know show jumping?" Tristan replies in complete surprise, eyes wide, "Are you Muggle-born too?"

"Don't be stupid," Scorpius commands arrogantly, kicking his long legs out, looking thoroughly comfortable despite Dominique's glare burning a hole in the side of his head, "Of course I'm not Muggle-born. But my mum is a massive show jumping fan, and I saw him winning when I was competing a while back."

"You compete?" Tristan asks, looking like he couldn't possibly be more surprised, quailing slightly when Scorpius turns his piercing grey gaze on him, "Have I heard of you?"

"Of course not," Scorpius tells him dismissively, running a hand through his hair, "I'm only twelve. I'm not old enough to compete to any good level yet. Father's buying me a new horse for my thirteenth birthday though."

Meanwhile, the other occupants of the carriage are staring at each other helplessly, and Grace sums up all their feelings when she turns to Saoirse and whispers, "What's show jumping?"

Saoirse whispers back, and she's halfway through her explanation when Scorpius finally loses interest and gets up, disappearing out of the compartment after Rose without so much as a backwards glance.

"Bloody hell," Lorcan exclaims feebly once he's gone, "That kid is _scary_."

"He's an arse," Dominique corrects crossly, glaring at the spot where he disappeared, "Thinks he's the next bloody answer to everything."

"Good-looking, though," Saoirse ventures, her face a furious red colour, and Lysander makes a face as Lucy bursts out laughing, and soon the merry atmosphere is restored and they're all chatting as though they were never interrupted.

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><p><strong>an**: if you like this enough to favourite, it would make my day if you left a review at the same time!


	2. chapter ii

**a/n**: Thank you so much for all the reviews for the first chapter! It honours me that so many people consider this worth the time to read and review. I hope this chapter doesn't disappoint. You finally get to find out what house they're all going into – don't hate me?

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><p><span>inlustrum<span>

now i drive my downeaster alexa  
>more and more miles from the shore every year.<br>- _The Downeaster Alexa, Billy Joel_

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><p>chapter two. (4748)<p>

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><p>It feels like a lifetime before the first years are finally lined up on the platform, and Lucy is clutching Dominique's hand tightly as they stand right down near the end of the line, both holding their breath as the first person (-"Allen, Jessica!"-) stumbles up towards the stool on which is seated a battered old hat.<p>

As Allen, Jessica goes into Slytherin, the green-and-silver table on the far side of the hall explodes into cheering, and Dominique catches her cousin James' eye at the Gryffindor table. He's looking very relaxed, hand resting on chin, absently drawing pictures in a patch of spilled salt. He winks at Dominique in reassurance, confident that she'll be joining all the other Weasleys in Gryffindor, and then jumps as the girl next to him – Jenny, Dominique thinks she's called, James' best friend – elbows him sharply in the ribs to make him pay attention.

Lucy squeezes Dominique's hand suddenly as the name "Bullimore, Jack!" is called and their friend Jack from the train moves forward nervously, looking smaller than they remember under the big hat.

He gets put in Ravenclaw, and Dominique smiles as the bronze-and-blue table roars with delight, slapping Jack on the back when he makes it down.

More students get Sorted until Tristan's name is called. Dominique unwittingly finds her eyes searching out Scorpius Malfoy in the audience. He is lounging indolently in his seat next to Albus, looking thoroughly bored by all the proceedings, but his eyes have narrowed in interest despite themselves and he tenses momentarily as the hat opens its mouth.

"_GRYFFINDOR_!" it shrieks, and Dominique and Lucy clap as the Gryffindor table nearly raises the roof – this is their first new first year – looking delighted. Dominique switches her gaze from Tristan to Scorpius, and finds him sitting even more upright, face pleased despite his efforts to appear emotionless. Dominique and Lucy laugh and cringe as James leaps to his feet and strikes a victory pose on top of his bench, Jenny tugging to try to make him get down, but only half-heartedly. James refuses to get down until Tristan is seated comfortably at the table, and Dominique sneaks a glance at the headmaster to see him trying to hide laughter.

Saoirse is next, and Dominique doesn't notice she's biting her nails until Lucy slaps her hand away. They hold their breaths until the hat shrieks, "_GRYFFINDOR_!", and James repeats his theatrics as Saoirse breathes a visible sigh of relief and scurries from the platform to take a seat next to Tristan, who looks thoroughly relieved and budges up to make room from her.

Grace is the next of their friends to get Sorted, and the hat barely touches her head before it shrieks, "_HUFFLEPUFF_!" Grace bounds off the stool with clear delight, heading straight over to the cheering table with a massive grin. Lucy and Dominique applaud her, watching almost proudly as she finds herself a seat with the other new first years.

Students carry on getting Sorted, and Dominique sees a few boys and girls she recognises from the platform going to join Jack at the Ravenclaw table. Suddenly she hears "Scamander, Lorcan!" being called and Lucy's fingers tighten almost crushingly around hers.

"Ouch, Luce!" Dominique hisses, but she can't be heard over the hat's shriek of, "_HUFFLEPUFF_!"

Lucy lets go of Dominique's hand, shooting her a look of apology, but is unable to control her delight as Lorcan hurries off the platform to join Grace at the Hufflepuff table, grinning as he slides onto the bench and Grace nearly knocks him right back off again with a hug.

By the time Dominique drags her attention back to the Sorting Hat, Lysander is already sitting on the stool, his head almost vanished under the brim. Dominique can see one of his hands clutched tightly over the pocket of his school trousers, and she is hardly surprised at all when the Hat shouts, "_GRYFFINDOR_!"

The red-and-gold table nearly deafens everybody else as they cheer. Dominique laughs as she watches James repeat his by-now-usual performance, fist clenched in front of him as he stands on the bench. His friend Jenny has given up trying to get him down now and just cheers loudly next to him. Lysander blithely gets Tristan and Saoirse to shuffle apart to make space for him, and Dominique laughs again as James decides that he wants to sit with the new first years and clambers hastily off his bench to run and slide onto the bench amongst the first years that Dominique doesn't know, opposite Tristan and Saoirse and Lysander.

"He's so embarrassing," Lucy whispers to Dominique, and Dominique just nods in agreement, realising how sick she feels as the line continues to dwindle until there are just five people in between her and her date with destiny.

Her legs don't want to cooperate when she finally hears, "Weasley, Dominique!" called out, and she swallows hard and stumbles as Lucy gives her a pointed shove forwards. Grimacing, she paces towards the stool and hops up onto it, gulping as the brim of the hat drops down over her face.

She hears a small moment of laughter in her ear and a voice that whispers, "_Nowhere but GRYFFINDOR_!" It roars the last, taking her somewhat by surprise, and Dominique doesn't realise how relieved and pleased she is until she gets off the stool and her legs nearly give way. Divested of the Hat, she hurries off the platform and flushes as she sees James, with help from Fred, Albus, and Rose, leading the shrieking and announcing, "My cousin! That's my cousin! In Gryffindor!"

Brick red in the face, she takes the space that James has made for her by shoving up chuntering second years, submitting rather impatiently to his bear hug.

"For Merlin's sake, James, let me go so I can see Lucy," she orders, jabbing him sharply in the ribs.

"Violence is never the answer," James replies in a saintly tone, but he's just as interested so they both crane their heads around. Lucy is just clambering onto the seat, her blonde hair vanishing as the deputy headmistress puts the hat on her head.

"C'mon, c'mon, c'mon," James is muttering behind Dominique as the hat continues to stay silent, looking as thoughtful as a hat can, and then he falls deadly silent as the hat suddenly yells, "_HUFFLEPUFF_!"

Dominique, barely surprised, has to actively restrain James as he makes to leap to his feet and complain.

"But she's a _Weasley_!" he protests vehemently, looking as though this is a personal affront, "She can't be in _Hufflepuff_!"

"She wants it, you dolt," Dominique retorts, punching him numbingly in the upper arm, "Stop being such an attention-seeker."

James subsides, muttering darkly, and Dominique catches Lysander's eye and has to muffle laughter. The last few students are Sorted – two more into Slytherin, one into Gryffindor and three into Ravenclaw – and then the pressure is gone like a glorious weight and Dominique feels like she's floating on air as the headmaster gets up to make his speech.

;;

By the end of the meal Dominique has acquainted herself with all the other first years. Apart from her and Saoirse and Tristan and Lysander, there are four boys and another two girls. One of the girls irritates her almost instantly, introducing herself to Lysander by saying, "Hi, I'm Anastasia, but you can call me Precious if you want."

Dominique has to bury her face in her hands to stop herself from laughing when Lysander replies, looking slightly bemused, "No thank you."

Undeterred, Anastasia turns to the boy next to her and repeats the process.

"Is she serious?" Lysander mouths across the table at Dominique, who just giggles and shrugs.

By the time they make it up to the dorms, however, it is utterly apparent that Anastasia – a.k.a. Precious – _was _serious. They are all gazing around themselves in awe when the prefect leads them into the Gryffindor common room for the first time, Saoirse and Dominique standing close together just to take a little comfort in face of the strangeness of it all, when they hear a strident voice from the back of the group saying, "So where do I sleep?"

The prefect, looking a little surprised, gestures towards two sets of stairs, "Boys that way and down, girls that way and up."

"Oh, how lovely, our rooms are all next to each other," Anastasia declares, pushing through the group and heading up to the stairs, disappearing with the other girl in Gryffindor, Evie, in tow.

"Anyone fancy breaking it to her?" Lysander inquires eventually, and they all laugh, tension broken, as the boys start to head towards their dorms. Dominique and Saoirse hang back as Lysander heads over to the fire, waiting until the prefect has his back turned before slipping Hitchcock in, where the salamander merrily twines himself around a burning log and appears to go straight to sleep.

"Good luck with the princess," Lysander comments as they all go over to their respective staircases, picking up Tristan on the way, "Apparently her mother is a famous Muggle film star. She told me in between something about not being allowed to bring her dog with her."

"Great, a spoiled brat," Dominique says dolefully, already dreading the next seven years spent sharing a room with her, "Should be fun."

"She might not be so bad," Tristan pipes up, prompting glares of disbelief from the other three, "Well, she might not. Give her a chance."

The look on Lysander's face is so surprised that Dominique and Saoirse burst out laughing. They all start enormously, however, as the prefect reappears and orders them all to bed immediately.

Hurrying up their stairs, Saoirse nearly trips and she and Dominique fall into their dorm shaking with laughter, but then halt, transfixed by the sight of Anastasia standing in the middle of the room bawling her head off.

"I need _privacy_," the girl is shrieking, "My _own _room, my _own _space! There is no way I'm _sharing_. Especially not a _bathroom_."

Dominique, fast losing patience, snaps, "Oh, suck it up," and hurries to bag the bed by the window. Saoirse follows suit and grabs the one next to her. A trifle nervously Evie takes the bed next to Saoirse, looking apprehensive, and then all three girls watch in astonishment as Anastasia screams dramatically and then storms off downstairs.

"She'll be back," Dominique announces to break the silence, and Saoirse bursts out laughing, Evie joining in a little shyly, "She's got nowhere else to go."

"Why on Earth did she get Gryffindor?" Saoirse wonders, and Dominique shrugs and kicks her shoes off, lying back on the bed and staring up at the scarlet canopy.

"Maybe we'll find out."

;;

Three weeks later they are finally starting to settle in and friendships groups have been fast established. Dominique quickly becomes one of the lads, making friends with the other Gryffindor boys in addition to Lysander and Tristan, Saoirse joining in gamely despite being a girly girl right through to her core. Anastasia, who nobody will call Precious, bosses Evie around and appears to be believe the others are all friends with her.

Dominique very nearly causes a scene when she comes down to breakfast one morning in her first week with Saoirse and two of the Gryffindor boys, Jake and Isaac, and spots Grace, Lucy and Lorcan sitting with some of the other Hufflepuff first years. Having had lessons with them a few times she decides to go and sit with them but is waylaid halfway across the room by her cousin Albus.

"Where're you going, Dom?"

"To sit with Lucy," she replies, sensing this might not be the right answer and hastening to explain as Albus frowns, "I haven't sat with her yet."

"You're not really supposed to sit with other houses," Al says, looking disapproving, "You've got lessons with them and stuff, right? So you can talk to them then."

"But –" Dominique protests, gathering herself for an argument, when a cold drawl cuts right across her, setting her temper flaring.

"Give it up, Weasley, it's never going to happen," Scorpius Malfoy informs her, sloping across to join his friend, "Nobody likes first years getting above themselves and causing a scene."

Dominique, suddenly speechless, can only glare at him furiously.

"Just go and sit at the Gryffindor table," Al says placatingly, taking her shoulders and steering her back towards it, "It's easier that way."

In that moment, as Dominique feels Scorpius' mocking gaze fixed on the back of her head, she vows to hate him forever.

;;

As the weeks of her first term pass, Dominique's hatred of Scorpius grows more and more deep-rooted until even good-natured Albus notices her palpable fury whenever Scorpius is his usual arrogant self.

Fortunately, Dominique is not the type of person who is easily beaten down, and so despite her inability to deal with Scorpius she's very cheerful, always a few days behind with homework and spending a great deal of time devoting her efforts to getting Lysander out of trouble.

Saoirse confides to her in the common room one day that she doesn't think she's ever met anybody quite so good at effortlessly attracting trouble as Lysander, and as Dominique watches him ultra-casually lob a pair of Anastasia's wildly expensive shoes out of the window, she has to agree.

Next second, helpless with laughter, Lysander is being railed at by Anastasia, fending off her furious slaps with ease, almost doubled over laughing.

"Should we help him?" Tristan inquires as he drops into an armchair next to Saoirse, inclining his head towards Lysander, and the two girls grin and shake their heads in sync.

"He brings it on himself," Saoirse informs him cheerily, watching as Lysander ducks behind a group of Seventh Year girls for protection, "'Sides, I don't think it bothers him."

Dominique and Tristan, watching Lysander crawl sneakily behind an armchair and then make his escape out of the portrait hole, have to concur.

They find him again in Charms, and Dominique drops into the seat next him with a grin and asks, "You survived her wrath, then?"

"Barely," Lysander replies with a broad grin, arranging his textbooks in front of him to make a pillow, "She said that she's going to the headmaster about it."

Dominique laughs and then shakes her head in exasperation as Lysander drops his forehead onto his book-pillow and appears to almost instantly fall asleep, snoring gently. Lysander has made it clear from his first day that he regards everything but Care of Magical Creatures as a total waste of time, especially since he's not even allowed to start learning that until third year, informing increasingly annoyed teachers that he's going to be a naturalist like his father, so what's the point in learning anything else? Dominique suspects they let him get away with so much because he can so effortlessly make them laugh.

Dominique casts her eyes around the classroom as the teacher strides in and orders them all to turn to page sixty-eight, and catches sight of Lucy sitting in between Lorcan and a Hufflepuff girl called Sally. Dominique doesn't think she's ever seen Lucy so happy as these last couple of months without the shadow of her huge, famous family looming over her.

"Mr Scamander," the teacher – Professor Merryweather – says suddenly, breaking off from explaining the _alohomora_ charm, "Are we disturbing your nap?"

Lorcan in the front row breathes a sigh of relief that it's not him in trouble as Dominique gives Lysander a sharp poke in the ribs and he jumps into alertness, rubbing his side with an injured look at Dominique before turning his attention back to the teacher.

"Sorry, sir, what was the question?"

"I was just wondering whether we were disturbing your sleep?" Merryweather inquires, face very straight. Lysander considers this for a moment.

"Marginally," he replies, "But don't let that worry you, sir, I can sleep through anything."

"Ly_sander_," Saoirse hisses warningly, but Dominique can see the corners of Merryweather's eyes crinkling as he tries not to laugh and stifles her own laughter, relieved he's evidently not in a bad mood today.

"D'you think there's a small chance you could try to stay awake today?" Merryweather asks, "Only this spell might actually come in useful in later life."

"Well, I suppose," Lysander replies wearily, but there's that undertone of joking in his voice and Professor Merryweather grins and rolls his eyes and returns to his teaching.

"You lucky bastard," Dominique breathes jealously – she suspects most other people would be in serious trouble for something like that – and lets Lysander copy down some of her notes, "How do you do it?"

"My overriding charm," he replies airily, pulling her parchment closer and prompting a disbelieving snort of laughter from Saoirse.

Dominique gets revenge later in the day when they're learning about a new hex in Defence Against the Dark Arts and she manages to hit him squarely with it, leaving him a bright gold colour. Being Lysander, of course, he's delighted with the novelty and insists on Professor Hewer, the DADA teacher, leaving it to fade by itself so he can go around being gold for the rest of the day. The other teachers are quite pleased, since he's so busy being self-absorbed that he forgets to be disruptive in any of their lessons.

All the first years are heading back to Gryffindor Tower after their last lesson, Potions, even Anastasia consenting to be part of the group for once, and once in the common room they flop down into armchairs.

"Bring on the holidays," Dominique exclaims in delight, glancing out of the window at the falling snow and kicking off her shoes to wriggle socked feet closer to the fire, "I cannot _wait _for Christmas."

"Looking forward to seeing Santa Claus, Weasley?" a voice inquires from somewhere near her head, and Dominique tilts her face backwards, red hair catching coppery glints from the fire, and sees Scorpius Malfoy leaning comfortably on the back of her chair.

"Go away," she demands, resisting the urge to stick her tongue out at him, her grey eyes narrowed and wary, "I'm sick of you."

"Ditto," Scorpius replies as idly as though they are discussing the weather, raising one blond eyebrow down at her, "Which is exactly why I'm not going to go away."

"Prat," Dominique shoots at him, and Scorpius barely takes a second to reply, "Idiot."

The others around them sigh and leave them to argue, marvelling at how easily they wind each other up.

;;

During the following months Dominique continues in her headlong approach to life, crashing along at a hundred miles an hour and finishing her first year in a blaze of high spirits, spending a week at home with her parents before disappearing to spend a couple of weeks with Saoirse in Ireland where she gets a sunburn and earns the somewhat surprised respect of all six of her friend's siblings when she tells the oldest, twenty-four-year old Eoghan, to go fuck himself when he tries to push her in the sea.

Returning home, she finds Victoire back from university. She collapses through the fireplace, soot-blackened from flooing, with her suitcase clutched in her arms, yelling, "Honey, I'm home!" at the top of her lungs.

"Dom!" Victoire exclaims in delight, getting up from the kitchen table to give her little sister a hug, "It's great to see you!"

"You too," Dominique replies, examining her carefully as though she might have grown an extra arm or something in the time they haven't seen each other, "You look fantastic."

"Thanks," Victoire says with a smile, brushing her jeans down self-consciously, "So do you, you've shot up since I last saw you."

"Two inches," Dominique informs her proudly, sneezing as she pulls her jumper off and dislodges more soot, "Saoirse grew two and a half, though."

"You might end up taller than me," Victoire muses thoughtfully, measuring Dominique against herself. Dominique privately doubts it, but abandons her suitcase anyway and sits down at the kitchen table to catch up.

"So how's uni?" she inquires, taking a biscuit off the plate in the middle of the table and biting into it with relish, "Remind me why you even bothered going again?"

"It's great," Victoire replies with a smile, moving to the side to make tea, "I went because I wanted to see how Muggles do it. University and stuff. 'Sides, the learning is actually fascinating. Did you know that –"

"Ravenclaw 'til the end, huh?" Dominque breaks in, teasing, and earns herself a gentle cuff on the back of the head before Victoire laughs and pours the tea, returning to the table with two brimming mugs.

"I got a boyfriend," she announces as she sits down, and Dominique's eyes widen in horror.

"What about Teddy?"

"We broke up," Victoire says in a tone that suggests that Dominique ought to know this already, "I wrote you a letter to tell you, remember?"

Dominique thinks back and tries to remember.

"Ah," she recalls suddenly, looking a little abashed, "That might have been the letter that Lysander set on fire by mistake. He was trying to cheer Hitchcock up," she adds in explanation, grinning at Victoire's look of confusion.

"Hitchcock?" Victoire asks, and Dominique's grin widens.

"The salamander," she says, and then, "So what's this boyfriend like, then? Do I get to meet him?"

"He's called Matthew, he's on my course," Victoire replies, beaming, "He's a Muggle, obviously, and he's got curly brown hair and he's really tall – taller than me even when I wear heels – and he's got lovely brown eyes."

Dominique takes a gulp of her tea, burning her tongue, and asks, "What's he interested in?"

"He has this thing about cars," Victoire informs her with a fond roll of the eyes, "But he likes classical music and he's a bit interested in horses since he's got a brother – Arthur – who's a famous show jumper or something. Whatever show jumping is."

"With horses," Dominique responds automatically, and then a metaphorical lightbulb suddenly pings in her head, "Hey, is his surname Edgemoore?"

"Yeah," Victoire says slowly, eyeing her sister up suspiciously, "How did you know?"

"His brother's in Gryffindor with me! Remember I told you about Tristan? His older brother Arthur is a famous show jumper."

"Matthew has a younger brother called Tristan," Victoire exclaims, all the pieces suddenly falling into place, and she looks happier than Dominique's ever seen her as she adds, "That means he knows about magic. Oh, that makes things so much _easier_!"

At that moment Bill and Fleur return from their trip out and come into the kitchen looking incredibly guilty about something.

"Hi, I'm back!" Dominique informs them quite unnecessarily, narrowing her eyes at them as her mother tries to push her father forward and her father retaliates by picking her up and bodily forcing her towards them.

"Did you 'ave a nice time?" her mother inquires, and Victoire and Dominique are wearing identically wary expressions as they exchange a glance.

"Yes, thanks," Dominique replies slowly, "Where've you been?"

"Out," Fleur tells her vaguely, but then jumps as Bill evidently pokes her in the back.

"We've got something to tell you girls," their father says as the two of them move closer into the room, still looking very guilty, "Good news."

"If it's good news –" Victoire starts slowly.

"– Why are you stalling?" Dominique finishes for her, eyeing them up and wondering what on Earth could be the matter with them. She hasn't seen them look this guilty since they had to tell them they were selling their place in France.

"The thing eez," Fleur starts nervously, and then finishes in a rush, "Weare'avinganuzzerbaby."

"You what?" Victoire demands in horror, hands flying to her heart as Dominique mouths wordlessly opposite her, "Please tell me I misheard and you didn't just say that you're having another baby."

"It's true," Bill says, trying to look cheerful and less like he's scared they're going to lynch him, "A little baby sister or brother. How wonderful is that?"

"Hhh…" is all Dominique can manage, hands over her mouth. Victoire swallows, appears to think hard for a moment, and then bounds to her feet and moves across the room to hug her mother tightly.

"That's _fantastic_," she declares firmly, glaring down at her little sister, "Isn't it, Nicky?"

"_No_," Dominique replies scathingly, suddenly finding that her mouth is working after all, "Are you out of your _minds_? Vic's _nineteen_! She can't have a baby sister, it's too _weird_."

"You watch it, missy," her father commands, and Dominique's baleful grey-eyed stare catches him next.

"No, Dad, _you _watch it. This will ruin _everything_! We're a family already, we work because it's us four! A new baby is just going to spoil it _all._"

"_Go to your room_," Fleur hisses, scowling down at her youngest daughter, "'ow dare you be so 'orrible?"

Dominique, unable to choke out another word, flees from the room before she starts crying. She stumbles up the stairs and into Victoire's room, snatching floo powder off the mantelpiece and heaving out, "12 Grimmauld Place," watching Victoire's room whirl away in a spiral of green.

She tumbles out into the empty house, the first place she could think of that was guaranteed to be deserted, soot exploding around her as she falls onto the kitchen floor, lying very still and feeling the empty house above her. She curls up into a ball as she lies there, refusing to cry, her face pressed against her knees as she heaves in great, shuddering breaths.

She stays there for a long while, aware that she's overreacting, feeling increasingly embarrassed as she realises that actually having a baby brother or sister might be quite fun, and there'll be someone else for her mother to fuss over for a change.

After about ten minutes there's no more risk of tears so she staggers to her feet and leans on the mantelpiece, suddenly aware of a wild-eyed girl staring back at her out of the mirror. Dominique stares at her reflection, traces with her eyes the deep red hair, tumbling in a sleek waterfall of curls all around her so she's almost marooned inside it, the light grey eyes so thickly ringed with dark red lashes, the pale skin and sharp cheekbones and graceful line of her shoulders.

The girl in the mirror holds every hint of being as beautiful as Victoire, and Dominique suddenly hates her. She hates that she's this _thing_, one-eighth a creature whose legacy takes all of her assets and enhances them until she's a walking china doll, drawing eyes indiscriminately and relentlessly even though she's not even a teenager yet.

She doesn't hate her for being beautiful. She hates her because the beauty the girl will have, not long from now, will make her as effortlessly powerful as Scorpius Malfoy, and Dominique cannot stand to be like him.

"You _are_," a voice whispers, and Dominique's reflected glare darkens, remembering the talking mirror, "You're going to be _stunning_. Already getting there."

"I'm twelve," Dominique retorts angrily, "I don't want to be anything. Boys are gross."

The mirror chuckles breathily and Dominique has a fleeting second of wanting to smash it, but then common sense prevails and she imagines how furious her uncle Harry will be, and instead she takes more floo powder from the shelf above the fireplace and shouts out Lucy's address.

Her uncle Percy is delighted to see her, as is Molly. Her aunt Audrey is out – ostentatiously on a business trip – and Dominique pretends she doesn't notice the weary suspicion in Percy's face as he glances repeatedly at the clock. Molly and Lucy play Cluedo with Dominique, cheering her up with their easy bickering and clear delight at having her there, and she cradles the news about the baby to herself, aware that it's probably a secret, guarding it within her heart until she's decided quite how she feels about it.

She stays with Percy and Molly and Lucy overnight (Audrey doesn't make it home and all three girls pretend not to hear the argument down the phone in Percy's office) and returns boot-faced to her own house in the morning.

"Sorry," she mutters when her father opens the kitchen door and finds her sitting at the table, looking ashamed of herself, "I didn't mean it. I'm really glad you're having another baby."

Bill sizes her up consideringly, and then grins and opens his arms. She bounds into them, giving him a big hug, and he whispers, "S'okay, darling. I freaked out when your mother told me, too."

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><p><strong>an**: reviews make my day!


	3. chapter iii

**a/n**: thank you again everybody for all the reviews and alerts, they make my day! Happy birthday to Amy, You're Amyzing, by the way. Hope you have a great day!

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><p><span>inlustrum<span>

you tug my arm, and say : "give in to lust,  
>give up to lust, oh heaven knows we'll soon be dust ... "<br>_- Pretty Girls Make Graves, The Smiths_

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><p>chapter three : (5314)<p>

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><p>On September 1st, Victoire drops Dominique off at Platform 9¾ alone, since their parents are at the hospital so the Healers can check up on Fleur and the unborn baby. They walk through the barrier side-by-side, turning quite a few heads as they arrive with their graceful stride. Dominique, naturally, ruins her illusion of elegance by tripping over one of the wheels on her trolley, and Victoire is snorting with laughter when a tall man appears out of nowhere and snatches her up into his arms with a cry of delight.<p>

"Yeuch," Dominique says loudly as he kisses her, and behind the man another voice repeats the sentiment. Dominique crows in joy and barrels forward to give Tristan a hug, ignoring his wriggling to get away, laughing as her hair tickles his nose and he sneezes.

"Hey," he says once she's released him, rubbing his cheek where she kissed it, making a face, "How's things?"

"My mum's having a baby," Dominique informs him with a big grin, terribly proud to be conveying this news, "She's due near Christmas."

"That's brilliant!" Tristan says, and the man also congratulates them as he finally puts Victoire down, turning to Dominique with a grin.

"You must be the famous Dominique," he says, brown eyes twinkling, "I've heard all about you. I'm Matthew."

"Nice to meet you," Dominique says a trifle nervously, shaking his hand, "Victoire says you're studying Physics."

"Yeah, that's right," Matthew replies, looking pleased that she's remembered, "Why d'you look so dubious?"

"Well, it's just," Dominique begins, feeling Victoire's glare burning into the side of her face, "You've got a little brother –"

"– Not _that _little," Tristan interrupts, and Dominique pauses to shoot him a scowl before continuing.

"– A little brother who can do magic and doesn't magic, like, defy all the Muggle laws of Physics?"

Matthew shares a look with Victoire that makes Dominique frown, and then suddenly he's laughing exuberantly, throwing his head back and shaking it when he looks at her again, "I have to say, you're not exactly what I expected."

"Well, neither are you," Dominique shoots back automatically, switching to defensive mode, but then her curiosity gets the better of her, "What did you expect?"

"Vic told me you were both part – what was it, Veela? – yeah, part Veela, so I was expecting some pretty little princess, spoiled rotten. And Tristan was right about you being so pretty –"

"_Matt_," Tristan hisses, flushing bright red and looking horrified.

"– But you're so… so… _normal_."

"Um… thank you?" Dominique says, not quite sure how to respond to this, and she's considering Matthew with a raised eyebrow when she suddenly hears her name and Tristan's being shouted across the platform, and turns to see Lorcan, Lysander, Saoirse, Lucy, and Grace all standing by the train doors beckoning them over.

"We'd better run," Dominique said, reaching up quickly to hug Victoire goodbye, "We'll miss the train."

"Have a good time!" Victoire calls after them as they disappear into the crowd, "Write to tell me what houses Lily and Hugo and Rox get!"

Dominique gives her a thumbs-up before the crowd swamps her and Tristan and they have to use their trolleys as battering rams to make it to the train. Once they reach it, the other five help them drag all their stuff into the compartment they've found. They're joined after a short time by more of their friends until their compartment is nearly packed to bursting, and Dominique very nearly gets shoved off her set and onto the floor, only saving herself by punching Lysander very hard in the arm.

Rubbing his sore muscle, Lysander glares at her darkly, and they're just tensing up for a fight when their compartment door slides open and a voice that sets all of Dominique's nerves flaring drawls, "I found this wandering around the train. Doesn't it belong to you, Weasley?"

Lucy and Dominique both turn to glare as Scorpius ushers Hugo into their compartment, the smaller boy clutching his trunk and looking like he's trying not to cry.

"Look here, Malfoy," Dominique begins, but she doesn't get any further before a small red-headed figure marches up to Scorpius and gives him such a shove that he goes stumbling backwards and falls over.

"Don't you dare talk to Hugo like that, you horrible little boy!" Lily shrieks, eyes blazing as she plants her hands on her hips and scowls down at him, "I don't care if you're Al's best friend, I'll still kill you!"

"Breathe, Lily," another voice says, and Dominique and Lucy are now actively restraining laughter as Roxanne appears and pulls Lily backwards, patting her comfortingly on the shoulder as she raises one unimpressed eyebrow down at where Scorpius is sprawled, looking like he can't quite believe this is happening.

"So Weasleys now outnumber you five-to-one," she points out, grinning slightly, "I'd suggest you leave before I set Lily on you."

"You wouldn't be so brave if there was just one of you," Scorpius announces as he gets to his feet, brushing himself off and trying not to look too embarrassed, "Would you?"

"S'why we hunt in packs," Roxanne says mildly, looking totally unafraid even now Scorpius is looming over her, topping her by a good few inches, "Like lions."

"Or piranhas," Dominique chips in from where she's leaning out of the compartment to watch, breathless with laughter. "Beat it, Malfoy."

For once, Scorpius does the sensible thing, handsome face contracting with hatred as he glares down at Lily and Roxanne, who don't look even marginally cowed.

"Bye," Lily says as he turns around and stalks off, giving him a cheerful wave, temper apparently restored as she turns to Dominique with a beam, "That was fun. I feel like I'm making my mark already."

And with that, she marches off down the train to find an empty compartment, dragging her trunk behind her.

"C'mon, Hugo," Roxanne says as she follows Lily, beckoning her cousin out of the compartment. Lucy and Dominique watch them go before returning to sit in their own compartment.

"I like them already," Jake decides, and the others who've never met the three before laugh and agree. Feeling proud of her cousins, Dominique exchanges a grin with Lucy, more curious than ever to find out the results of the Sorting.

By the time they reach Hogwarts, they're all starving, and they tumble out of the train and into the carriages with barely a backwards glance, scrambling to squish into two carriages and giving encouraging waves to any first years they know as they wait on the platform. Dominique notices Lily standing next to a blonde girl, the pair already looking as thick as thieves, and narrows her eyes. She's sure she recognises the girl.

"Isn't that Malfoy's cousin?" Lucy whispers in her ear, echoing Dominique's feelings precisely with the apprehensive hitch in her voice, "Something Nott?"

"She's called Chloe," Lysander informs them from the opposite side of the coach, Hitchcock the salamander twining around his fingers, "She was at Al's birthday party last Easter holidays. Scorpius brought her for back-up."

Dominique nods in recognition, a premonition settling over her. She'd thought at the time, she remembers now, how extraordinarily suited the two girls had been to each other, hanging around together all night and giggling and playing tricks on people.

"Lily'll be gutted, then," Lorcan says mildly, joining in the conversation, "The Nott girl's bound to get Slytherin. Her older brother Sebastian – James' arch-nemesis – is in there too, and both her parents were."

"Were they Death Eaters?" Saoirse inquires with wide eyes, the whole carriage now watching the two girls until suddenly they round a bend and disappear from sight.

"No, they were actually on our side," Lorcan, the resident history buff, replies, "You've probably heard of them – Daphne and Theodore Nott? Well, she was Greengrass, but they got married pretty soon after the war. He's an article writer for the Prophet and she works for a children's charity."

"Chloe can't be that bad, then," Grace says firmly, determined to look on the bright side, "Maybe she and Lily will still be friends even when they're in different houses."

"They might end up together," Dominique feels honour-bound to point out, still remembering that glint in Lily's eye when she first discussed houses with her, "You never know."

"I doubt Nott'll get Gryffindor," Saoirse pipes up, "She strikes me as entirely too sneaky."

"Like Lily," Lysander whispers to Dominique, and she meets his eyes and he gazes at her steadily, telling her he knows what she's thinking and he agrees. Dominique sighs and turns to stare instead at the castle as they approach it. Lysander's always known Lily best out of all of them – except perhaps Teddy – and Dominique is more certain than ever where her younger cousin will be placed that evening.

The coaches arrive and they all clamber down, meeting up with the rest of their friends and all heading into the Great Hall together, scrambling for seats and waving and catching up with all the people they've missed over the holidays. Dominique is just arguing with James over whether she'll manage to make the Quidditch team when a breathless hush falls and the first years are ushered onto the platform.

Dominique falls completely silent, watching in quiet terror as Roxanne and Hugo line up next to each right at the end of the platform, and Lily takes her place three people away from Chloe Nott, expression fearless as she catches sight of James in the audience and sticks her tongue out at him.

The first boy goes into Gryffindor, and Dominique joins in the cheering with Saoirse next to her, both of them screaming in delight as the boy – Ainsworth, Patrick – hurries down from the platform looking overjoyed. The line progresses, and Dominique even consents to cheer when Isaac's younger sister gets placed in Ravenclaw.

She meets Lysander's eyes across the table again as Chloe Nott steps forward to be Sorted, looking very small and determined under the hat as she screws her eyes shut. The hat roars "_SLYTHERIN_!" and Dominique can see James muttering from a few places down as Chloe's older brother Sebastian leads the roar from the green-and-silver table.

The next two students go into Ravenclaw, and then one into Hufflepuff, and then Lily's name is called. Interest peaks amongst the students – this is not only the last Potter child, but also the only girl – and betting is rife as to whether she'll go straight into Gryffindor like her two brothers.

Dominique watches as the Hat is placed upon Lily's head, notices how white her fingers are around the edges of the seat, and she feels only weary acceptance as the Hat screams out, "_SLYTHERIN_!"

The silence is absolute, until suddenly Dominique breaks it as she leaps to her feet with a cry, tackling James and flooring him as he makes to sprint to the platform to complain or snatch Lily and imprison her at the Gryffindor table or something.

Unexpectedly the Slytherin table erupts, pure joy written on all their faces as Lily hands the Sorting Hat back to the astonished deputy headmistress, flushed very red but looking dangerously pleased as she moves steadily off the platform and joins the Slytherin table, giving Chloe a tight hug so that her face is hidden as the cheers crescendo around her and roars rise from the Gryffindor table where James is now being forcibly restrained by Dominique, Rose, and to Dominique's surprise, Scorpius Malfoy.

"Nothing you can do," Scorpius is telling him firmly, pinning his arm behind his back, "No resorting, you know that. Give it up. She's happy."

"She can't be Slytherin," James moans against the stone floor, almost drowned out by the sounds of applause as the Slytherins come to realise that maybe this is the chance for their house to regain some lost glory, "She just can't be."

"I'll tell Chloe to look out for her," Scorpius promises, and Dominique is just sitting there on James' legs, trying to work out how this sympathetic Scorpius can possibly be the same arrogant prat who winds people up for laughs, "And Castor – you know Castor Montague? Head Boy? – I'll tell him, too, I've known his family for ages."

"Why would you do that?" Dominique pipes up quietly, staring at him in confusion, trying to resist her initial instinct to duck her eyes aside as his icy grey gaze comes to rest on her.

"I know how it feels to be Sorted somewhere people think you don't belong," he says simply, and suddenly his gaze is as full of mockery as usual and Dominique blushes and scowls and hates him worse than ever.

They let James up and he retakes his seat, muttering darkly, and Dominique can only retake her seat praying that Roxanne and Hugo get Gryffindor to cheer him up.

To the numb disbelief of most of Gryffindor, Hugo goes into Ravenclaw and Roxanne into Hufflepuff to join Lucy, and in the common room that evening Dominique, James, Al, Fred, and Rose don't even dare speak to each other for horror. For the first time anyone can remember, not a single Weasley has gone into Gryffindor.

Tristan whispers to Saoirse as they creep up the stairs behind Dominique that he thinks this is the best thing that could possibly have happened – finally the Weasleys are diversifying, and they might finally stop placing such emphasis on Gryffindor.

;;

By the time the Christmas holidays roll around, Hugo and Roxanne and Lily have been forgiven for not getting Gryffindor, and Dominique has unsuccessfully tried out for the Quidditch team, half to James' delight and half to his fury, managed to score about twenty detentions, and watched Lily settle into Slytherin like she's been there all along. Dominique has to concede that her cousin seems right at home, thanks partly – much to her disgust – to Scorpius keeping his word and getting various people he knows to watch out for her.

When the new baby arrives the week before Christmas, Dominique and Victoire are pacing the floor at The Burrow where they've been left to keep out of trouble, unable to sit still for even two minutes despite their grandmother and various cousins and aunts and uncles trying to calm them down.

By the time an exuberant, tearful Bill apparates to tell them that they've got a baby brother, they're fast asleep, Dominique curled up against James and Victoire with Molly in her arms, Lily in Teddy's lap and Albus leaning against Lucy, all the others distributed around them, theoretically keeping vigil but actually completely out for the count.

"It's a boy!" Bill crows, barrelling in and waking up all the children. James swears and earns a sharp rebuke from Rose as he jolts into awareness, knocking Dominique right off the sofa. Dominique blinks in surprise and then realises what her father has just said and jumps to her feet with a cry of delight, hugging everybody in reach – including a rather surprised cat – and then finally launching herself at her father, she and he and Victoire all tangling together in one big embrace.

"C'mon, come see," Bill says, and he probably means just his daughters but the rest of the family comes along anyway, parents apparating children along and all of them probably waking the whole neighbourhood as they tumble into St Mungo's, twenty-three-strong, the clock on the wall reading two o' clock in the morning as a rather surprised nurse futilely tries to stop them all, giving up when she sees the famous Harry Potter in the midst of the riot.

They explode into Fleur's room and she looks up in exhaustion from the tiny baby in her arms, tired but overjoyed that the whole family – minus Charlie, who is caught up in Romania – has turned out to greet the new baby.

"We are going to call 'im Louis," Fleur announces, and Victoire and Dominique feel themselves shoved forward by various cousins to go and meet their new baby brother.

"He's lovely, Mum," Dominique says softly as Victoire nervously takes the baby, cradling him in unsure arms, her face transformed as she gazes down at him with his screwed up red face and damp fuzz of blond hair.

Soon the whole family is babbling and passing Louis around, cooing over him and exchanging banter and laughter. Dominique gets the giggles at the sheer terror on James' face when Lucy hands Louis to him, having to turn away and hide her face in Fred's shoulder to stifle her laughter.

They stay and chatter and celebrate for so long that eventually a nurse has to come along and tell them all to leave so the exhausted Fleur can get some rest. Still in a celebratory mood, they return to the Burrow and spend the rest of the morning eating and dancing and partying until they all crash out about three o' clock in the afternoon, adults taking the upstairs beds and the children ending up asleep in the sitting room, draped over each other like puppies as the afternoon winter sun streams in through the windows and bathes them in a soft yellow light.

Dominique lies squished between James and Lucy, James muttering in his sleep as her long hair tickles his nose. Stifling laughter, Dominique tugs her hair around and twines it absently to try to tame it, jumping suddenly as she realises that Lucy's big hazel eyes are open not four inches from her own.

"Dom," she whispers, looking troubled, "Can I tell you something?"

"'Course," Dominique whispers back, frowning slightly, wondering what could be bothering Lucy. Her cousin swallows, pushing her hair behind her ear, giving Fred a sharp elbow in the back as he nearly rolls on top of her.

"No-one else knows," she says in an almost lower tone, and there are tears welling up in her eyes as she blurts, "My mum's having an affair."

"Oh, Luce," Dominique breathes, reaching out to hug her tightly as Lucy's tears spill over and she buries her face in Dominique's shoulder, "Are you sure?"

"I've suspected it for a while," Lucy admits, her voice muffled against Dominique's top and so quiet Dominique has to strain to hear her, "She's always going to London and she dresses way too nicely for business meetings and sometimes I pick up the phone and there's a man asking to speak to her and she sends me and Molly a few rooms away so we can't hear her. But I went to get a cup of water this morning while we were at the hospital and… and…"

Lucy trails off, swallowing more tears, and Dominique presses her with a muttered, "…and?"

"And she was kissing a man," Lucy sobs, the sound coming out so loudly that next to Dominique James rouses and turns towards them with an irritable, "Shh!", not registering Lucy's tears before he's right back asleep again.

"I'm sorry," Dominique says, rubbing Lucy's back and wishing there was something she could do to make her feel better, "I'm so sorry. I'm –"

She's cut off suddenly as a bare foot lands by her head and a strong pair of arms are lifting Lucy to her feet like she's a little girl again. Dominique cranes her head upwards to find Teddy standing there, strong and comforting as usual, tanned hands dark against Lucy's fair cheeks as he brushes her tears away.

"C'mon, you," he murmurs gently, pausing to wink reassuringly down at Dominique as he lifts Lucy off her feet and picks his way gingerly amongst sleeping children, disappearing into the kitchen and shutting the door behind himself. Not for the first time Dominique is almost religiously grateful for Teddy and his gentle presence and sweet nature. She wriggles to get more comfortable on the floor, confident in Teddy being able there to listen to Lucy and comfort her. Unable to find a soft enough spot of floor to get comfy, Dominique swivels ninety degrees and pillows her head on James' stomach, ignoring his "oof" of protest, letting her legs rest across Fred's ankles as she drifts off almost immediately into sleep.

;;

With a new baby for distraction, the Christmas holidays pass in a blur, and soon they're back into the school term. Saoirse decides that she wants to throw Dominique a party for her thirteenth birthday on March 4th, so she bullies James into showing her the Room of Requirement and then passes invitations around.

Much to her surprise, Anastasia joins her and Evie in the battle to get Dominique in a dress for the party, and before Dominique quite realises it she's wearing one of Anastasia's nicest dresses, a cream number that emphasises her slender build and draws attention away from her current lack of bust, setting off her fair skin and deep red hair to perfection.

"Christ, I look awful," Dominique exclaims – Matthew spent a large portion of the Christmas holidays teaching her Muggle curses, which she took to with alacrity – and gives a twirl in front of the mirror, leaning forward to examine her face and the careful hairstyle it took Evie and Saoirse nearly an hour to achieve, even with wands to help out.

"You look great," Saoirse retorts firmly, taking her arm and steering her out of the door, not giving her a chance to hurry back and change or chicken out, "You'll get all the boys drooling."

"I don't _want _to get them drooling," Dominique protests futilely, trying to turn back, "They're my friends, it'll be weird."

"I don't think they'll just want to be friends when they see you now," Anastasia informs her with a grin, tucking a strand of her own perfectly curled chestnut hair behind her ear, "Trust me on that."

"Ew," Dominique protests, but when they sweep into the Room of Requirement and several jaws drop as their owners catch sight of her, she has to admit to feeling just the slightest stab of satisfaction. For the first time, she feels as powerful as Victoire, one-eighth of the blood flowing through her veins bringing out a pretty flush in her cheeks and a sparkle in her eyes and a delicate, sinuous elegance to the way she walks.

"I told them you didn't have boobs under those robes," Lysander announces blithely as he sweeps up dramatically, face straight, "Now they'll _have _to believe me."

"Oh, piss off," Dominique orders, but the tension's been broken and she giggles and lets Lysander bear her off for a dance before he disappears to find Lily and James takes his place, teasing her rotten but looking awfully proud anyway.

As the evening progresses time starts to blur more and more until Dominique can barely remember five minutes ago, her shoes kicked to the side of the room as she jives energetically with James' nemesis Sebastian Nott, his eyes glittering from the alcohol he's consumed, his hands on her waist and his gaze raking her suggestively.

"Fancy going somewhere quieter?" he yells in her ear, and when he draws his head back Dominique is staring at him calculatingly. She knows the sensible thing to do is say no – she's only just thirteen, after all – but there's a tiny little voice somewhere deep inside shouting that he's the handsomest boy in his whole year and this might just be the best way to bring her teenage years in with a bang.

So she damns herself and gives over to that impulsive Gryffindor side and nods, feeling his hand close around hers and his warm palm engulfing her fingers. He leads her out through the dancing crowd, ducking sneakily past James, who has appointed himself Chief of Morality to make sure nobody tries anything on his susceptible female cousins.

Sebastian and Dominique seize the opportunity as James spots Rose necking with some tall fifth year Ravenclaw and heads over to put a stop to it, hurrying through the door and out into the silent halls of the school, the sounds of the party disappearing instantly behind them as the door shuts.

"Oh, we'll never find the door again now," Dominique complains as the handle finally vanishes, the room doing its job well in keeping the party from being detected by the teachers or patrolling prefects, but Sebastian just keeps tugging her along behind him.

"In here," he says breathlessly as they come to a halt in front of a broom cupboard, opening the door and bowing low to her, making her laugh and throw her inhibitions far away as she precedes him in.

"Bit cramped," she comments, looking around herself before Sebastian steps in and shuts the door behind himself, grinning as he turns back to her.

"Not for what we're going to use it for. You look beautiful," he adds, aware that he can take his time now he's prised her away from her overbearing family, reaching out in the dark with unerring aim to stroke a finger down her cheek, "But then you always do. Even when you're dressed like a boy at weekends with your hair all a mess. I don't know how you do it. Most girls spend hours making themselves look perfect, and you just… do. All the time."

"I'm not perfect," Dominique protests, flushing from the compliment, relieved for the darkness, and not caring that she feels like one of those silly fluttery girls she promised herself she would never feel like, "Saoirse and Anastasia and Evie helped me tonight."

"They did a great job," Sebastian tells her firmly, and Dominique is just wondering what to say next when suddenly she hears a rustle and then Sebastian is pressing her back against the side of the cupboard, his body lean and warm against hers, his shoulders wonderfully broad as her fingers trace over them.

"Seb –" she starts, but he cuts her off with a finger across her lips, moving on to slide his hand into her long hair, his mouth very near to hers as he whispers, "Done this before?"

She shakes her head no, her breath coming faster – whether from fear or delighted anticipation she never decides – and stiffens as he chuckles huskily and warmly.

"Then just relax, I think you'll like it," he murmurs, and he's so close now that she can feel his warm breath ghosting across her mouth, until abruptly he's kissing her, lips pressing hers apart and his hands holding her head. Unsurely she copies his movements, her hands moving to rest uncertainly on his hips, until she gathers confidence and starts kissing him back properly, leaning up into him until she has to pull away or pass out from lack of oxygen.

"Wow," she mutters, hating and loving feeling so weak all in the same moment, and she barely has time to recover before he's kissing her again, one arm drifting around her back to anchor her against him.

By the time she returns to the common room she has stars in her eyes bigger than the diamonds Anastasia's mother gave her daughter for Christmas, and she can barely walk for her legs feeling so like jelly.

The minute she clambers through the portrait hole someone jumps on her and she gives a squeal and tries to fight them off.

"Shut up, Dom!" an angry voice hisses in her ear, "It's me, Rose!"

"Bloody hell," Dominique replies weakly as her cousin releases her, pressing a hand to her heart, "Don't scare me like that."

Rose casts her eyes heavenward, muttering something to herself, and then her blue eyes flash down and focus on Dominique with such hardness that Dominique can almost feel her stomach dropping down to her feet.

"So d'you want to explain where you've been? It's one o' clock in the morning. You left the party at midnight."

Dominique scuffs the floor with one bare foot, wondering where her shoes ended up, not daring to meet Rose's eyes.

"I went for a walk," she says eventually, blushing, "Got lost."

"And I suppose Sebastian Nott was just accompanying you for your conversation, yeah?" Rose demands icily, and Dominique realises as she glances up in horror that Rose is really, truly, and deeply furious.

"That's right," Dominique retorts defiantly, tossing her hair backwards, "Why does it matter to you anyway?"

"He's James' _worst enemy_," Rose reminds her irately, looking like she wants to shake her, "What were you _thinking_? If James finds out it'll crucify him!"

"James know you're watching out for him?" Dominique inquires spitefully, suddenly angry with her cousin, and she doesn't know why but (Rose is right, basically), "Bet he doesn't. Bet he doesn't know that you're mothering him and patronising him and making out like he's –"

"Shut up!" Rose cries, shoving Dominique backwards into the wall, appearing to give over to her temper, "You shut up about James! This isn't about me and him, this is about you and bloody Nott!"

"Bullshit!" Dominique yells right back, aware that the common room isn't likely to be empty for much longer, shoving Rose right back, "It's always about you and James! Everything in our whole damn family is about you and James! You with the grades and him with the pranks – how are the rest of us ever supposed to compare, huh? How are we _ever _supposed to –"

"But you _do_," Rose screams back, and suddenly she's crying and Dominique's not sure when that started, "You _do_! You just have to walk in a room and everybody's paying attention to you, with your bloody Veela genes! If the boys weren't related to you they'd be slobbering and the ones that aren't related can never tear their eyes away and all the girls want to _look _like you and it's just not _fair_, it's not fair!"

Dominique feels suddenly deflated, but she can feel the pain in her back where Rose pushed her into the wall and she feels so guilty despite herself about Sebastian that she's determined to take it out on Rose.

"You know what's not fair?" she demands, giving Rose a shake, "What's not fair is you having to outshine us all! You being Little Miss Perfect and showing us all up all the time until all our parents want us to be like you until we all _hate _you and –"

"You don't hate me," Rose retorts fumingly, "You don't hate me! You don't!"

"But we do," Dominique needles, and, Merlin, _why _is she doing this? She's not this person. She's _nicer _than this, _better _than this, and she loves Rose almost the best out of all her cousins, but the thing is that Dominique is sick of being passed over and sick of being ignored in favour of her glamorous elder sister or adorable new baby brother and Rose is just the perfect thing to take her temper out on, "We all feel like –"

"_Shut up_," a new voice thunders, and both girls jump as James suddenly appears, looking apoplectic as he bears down on them, "Both of you, stop it! How can you be so horrible to each other?"

They both fall silent, glancing at each other, neither of them wanting to drop each other in it with James, who is famous for his grudges and his temper.

"Well?" he demands, crossing his arms and dividing his glare between them.

"It's nothing," Dominique mutters sulkily, staring at the floor, "Just a misunderstanding."

"Well next time have your misunderstanding somewhere else, okay?" James hisses as the common room starts to fill with sleepy Gryffindors, trying to find the source of the commotion that woke them.

"I'm going to bed," Dominique says stiffly and marches right through the crowd of her housemates, and she doesn't cry until she's curled up beneath her duvet, regretting everything she's said more than she could possibly ever convey.


	4. chapter iv

**a/n**: I'm dedicating this chapter to somewhat lovely, because her reviews make me smile so much and I basically adore her.

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><p><span>inlustrum<span>

look over your hills and be still  
>the sky above us shoots to kill<br>- _Thistle & Weeds, Mumford and Sons_

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><p>chapter four : (4275)<p>

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><p>It takes two weeks for Rose and Dominique to make up, but when they do it's tearful and relieved and Dominique promises to have nothing more to do with Sebastian Nott, despite the temptation she feels every time he sends a smouldering glance her way, and the two girls become closer than ever and over the holidays Dominique spends a great deal of time with Rose to get out of her house where Louis seems to be crying constantly.<p>

For the summer term she vows to give up boys and – for the first time ever – concentrate on her schoolwork. She does this so successfully that several times Professor Merryweather asks her if she's feeling alright when she actually answers a question correctly in class, and everybody laughs and Dominique feels the foreign but comfortable glow of academic achievement.

She likes it so much, in fact, that she decides to keep it up after the summer holidays. She spends these eight weeks lazing around with her cousins at The Burrow, playing fiercely competitive games of Quidditch and swimming in the river and eating so much their grandmother has to go shopping almost every other day to keep her cupboards stocked.

Teddy Lupin spends his afternoons after work with them, and Dominique develops an enormous crush on him, finally moving on from Alan-the-guitarist-from-The-Warlocks, as he plays Quidditch with no shirt on, displaying a gloriously bronzed, muscled back with broad shoulders and lean hips that even Victoire, staunchly vowing that she's over him, lusts after. He swims with them and chats to them, keeping all the boys in stitches as he describes happenings at work, almost making Lucy swoon when he rescues her trapped kitten, his eyes their preferred blue under his natural brown hair as he hands Crookshanks the Fourth back to her, laughing as the ginger kitten tries to savage his hands.

The Longbottom children spend a week with them, Grace's eyes almost on stalks as she watches Teddy execute a perfect somersault into the river, shaking his wet hair out of his eyes as he dares James and Fred to do the same, teasing them and railing at them until they feel so embarrassed that they have to make their own attempts.

"Put your tongue back in," Dominique teases as she lies on her front in the grass with Grace, "You'll swallow bugs."

"Why have I never met him before?" Grace demands, pushing her sunhat further down on her head to avoid sunburn, "You guys were hiding him from me, weren't you?"

Dominique laughs and winks, "Absolutely. This has all been a massive ploy to stop you from meeting him."

She relents, however, as Grace turns a pout on her, and grins as she says, "He's actually spent a couple of years travelling. He works for the Auror department with my uncles Harry and Ron and so he was away a lot while he was doing some international stuff. He only got home occasionally, for a couple of parties and things. But he's moved up a couple of levels now so he works in London."

"I see," Grace replies, turning a dreamy expression back towards Teddy before noticing that her two little sisters are about to try their luck on the tyre swing Dominique's Uncle Charlie built that is definitely not designed for a five- and six-year-old.

"Isobel! Clara!" she shouts, scrambling to her feet and haring off towards them. Dominique laughs as she watches Grace grab Isobel and start noisily remonstrating with them, but then she's abruptly distracted as she feels herself grabbed by three pairs of wet hands.

"We noticed you were dry," James announces as he helps to drag her towards the river, ignoring her squealing.

"So we thought we'd fix that," Teddy finishes, exchanging a grin with Fred as the three of them draw her backwards before chucking her, screams and dress and all, right into the middle of the river, into the particularly deep spot that never seems to get warm.

"You bastards!" she shrieks as she surfaces, kicking straight towards James, who dove in after her, grabbing on around his neck and trying to duck him. He fights back, and Fred dives in with Teddy following, and soon they're tossing her around between them, laughing so hard they can barely stand up even though the water only comes up to their waists at this point, and Dominique is laughing so hard she forgets to blush when Teddy grabs her and spins her around before dunking her thoroughly, his hands warm and electric on her waist.

They dry off in the sun, and Dominique is almost asleep when James shakes her and informs her loudly that dinner's ready. She falls into step beside Al on the way up to The Burrow and food, and they have a nice conversation about whether Rose has got a secret crush on someone before they discover dinner set out before them and talking becomes obsolete.

;;

Back for third year, Dominique with James leads the storm of wild applause as Molly gets Sorted into Gryffindor. She looks pleased as punch as she scurries from the platform and joins the other new first years, blushing as James leans across to hug her, his tie falling in his pumpkin juice, before his friend Jenny drags him back and tells him to concentrate on the headmaster's speech.

Dominique sleeps well that night and gets up to start lessons the next morning in a cheerful mood that even an argument with Scorpius over whether jam is nicer than marmalade cannot drag her mood down.

This mood persists through the first couple of weeks until Quidditch trials roll about. An enormous Seventh Year boy called Henry Wood is captaining, and Dominique is so nervous the morning before she can only manage one slice of toast in place of her usual four.

She lines up with the other Gryffindors trying out, knuckles white around the handle of her broom, a Firebolt 3.2 – her uncle Harry and aunt Ginny get given all the latest models of broom despite the fact that they're both happy with their original Firebolts, so they dole the brooms out fairly amongst their children and nieces and nephews. She glares as James and Fred proceed to have an almost perfect tryout, scoring every single time against the trialing Keepers, high-fiving and looking so pleased with themselves that Dominique wants to hit them both.

"G'luck, Dom!" James calls after her as she takes to the air a little unsteadily, feeling none of her usual confidence even once she's up feeling the breeze on her face.

Her Chaser trial isn't too bad – in fact, it's one of the better ones – but the next morning the list of the team goes up and Dominique's name isn't on it. James and Fred have both made Chaser, along with a girl named Claudia Spinnet. The captain, Henry Wood, is playing Keeper and Dominique's friend Isaac Greene is Seeker. Dominique is so disappointed she doesn't notice that only one Beater position has been filled, and as she turns away she spots James crowing with victory in a corner.

"I hope you fall off your broom!" she shouts across the room at him, partly in response to him getting on the team again and partly because she suspects he's the one who hexed all her underwear brown the day before.

"Chin up, Dom!" he calls back patronisingly, tossing an apple at her to try to make her laugh. In a sudden burst of fury, Dominique grabs a discarded Beater's bat off the nearest sofa and gives the apple such a smack that a chunk comes out of it and the remainder goes flying back towards James and clobbers him in the head.

And, just like that, Dominique fills the spare Beater's spot on the team.

Their first match is against Slytherin, and Dominique's not sure whether she's more nervous about the fact that she'll be playing against Sebastian Nott or about the fact that James will be playing in a team against Lily, who is the new Slytherin seeker. There is a very good reason that James and Lily are never allowed to be on opposing teams when the family plays Quidditch, and Dominique doesn't really want the rest of Hogwarts becoming witness to two Potters trying to kill each other.

They behave themselves, however, and Dominique can't help but feeling satisfied as she sends a bludger speeding towards Sebastian, nearly knocking him off his broom and forcing him to drop the Quaffle – she's been hearing rumours about him and Caroline Peakes and broom cupboards – which is then picked up by Fred, who with James and Claudia's help proceeds to score for Gryffindor.

Dominique is only marginally bitter when Lily catches the snitch and wins the match for Slytherin – Gryffindor finished only twenty points behind in the end, and it's nice for Lily that she's proved her worth as more than just a famous name on the Quidditch pitch.

The mood is subdued in the common room that night, but Lysander Scamander soon cheers them all up by accidentally (he claims) knocking a pilfered bludger through the wall of the common room, making a hole right through a water pipe and causing a flood in the corridor outside that drips down two floors and makes the Transfiguration classroom unusable for a couple of days while the teachers dry it out.

Dominique vows to beat Hufflepuff in their next match and forces the other Gryffindor Beater, a sixth year called Andrew Somers, to practice with her almost daily. She continues with her vow of celibacy in order to practice her Quidditch and stay on top of schoolwork, and besides her crush on Teddy leaves almost no room for anything else.

However, after the Christmas holidays, she's all dressed up for her fourth ever trip to Hogsmeade with Saoirse and Tristan and Lysander when Jake, blushing furiously, waylays her when she's alone going back up to Gryffindor Tower to clean her teeth and asks her if she'll go with him.

Dominique considers for a moment, but he looks so expectant that she'll say no that she can't bear to, so she agrees and smiles and nips off to warn the other three before returning to Jake with clean teeth and an extra spray of perfume and surprises herself by having a really good time.

They return to the common room late in the afternoon, and Dominique pauses at the bottom of the stairs up to her dorm, feeling shy for the first time in a very long while as she gazes at Jake. He's blushing again, so Dominique takes pity on him and closes the gap between their faces, giving him a quick kiss on the lips to much catcalling from the other people in the room.

Without a single outward display of embarrassment, Dominique grins at Jake and then disappears up the stairs to her dorm, falling backwards onto her bed and trying to work her feelings out. Kissing Jake didn't feel the same way as kissing Sebastian, and feeling his touch when they sat close together in the Three Broomsticks didn't feel the same way as Teddy's casual, brotherly touches – but there's something much safer about the way Jake makes her feel, and she thinks that safety's definitely something she could do with right now.

;;

Dominique and Jake go out for a whole two months, and then break up just before the Easter holidays, a couple of weeks after Dominique's birthday. She'd just spent it with her best friends and her family this year, and she has to wait for the holidays to get her presents from her grandparents and her parents and sister.

She arrives at the station and has to hang around for an extra half an hour before her father swings up, looking harried, and spells her stuff haphazardly home before apparating her himself.

"Your sister's in a bit of a state," he warns her as they start up the garden path, "She hasn't stopped crying for an hour."

Dominique has to stifle laughter at the long-suffering look on his face, but when they reach the kitchen and find Fleur trying to comfort a wailing Victoire while one-year-old Louis bawls in his cot in the corner, Dominique understands her father's reluctance to return to the crisis.

"I'm on it," Bill says as he abandons Dominique in the kitchen, dropping a kiss onto Fleur's forehead and grabbing Louis out of his cot, tossing him playfully in the air and babbling nonsense to him as he bears him out of the danger zone.

"What's the matter, 'Toire?" Dominique inquires, gingerly taking a seat next to her sister, "Dad says something bad."

Victoire heaves out something incomprehensible between sobs, and Dominique looks to her mother in confusion.

"Your sister eez pregnant," Fleur tells her, looking only marginally disapproving as she pats Victoire comfortingly on the shoulder in response to a fresh wave of sobs.

"But that's great news," Dominique says uncertainly, "Isn't it?"

"No," Victoire gulps, turning bloodshot, puffy eyes on her sister, "Because it might not be Matthew's."

Dominique has to blink to take that in, and her initial fury that Victoire would cheat on Matthew wanes to be replaced with pure curiosity, "Who's might it be if not Matt's?"

Victoire whispers the name first time, so Dominique has to get her to repeat it.

"I said _Teddy_, can't you listen?" Victoire snaps, and then buries her face in her hands as a fresh wave of embarrassment floods her and she starts crying again.

"But I thought you really liked Matthew," Dominique presses nervously – Victoire doesn't lose it often, but when she does you never want to be close by – and glances at her mother for reassurance.

"I _do_," Victoire gasps, lifting her face, "But it's _Teddy_ and he was _gah _all summer with you lot and his stupid showing off and stupid kindness and I was over at Uncle Percy's just after Christmas tidying up and making him food – he's barely eating now Aunt Audrey's cleared out with that Healer – and Teddy pitched up with all this food that he'd spent hours making and, Merlin, you know how good-looking he is and he was trying to cheer me up after a lousy day and he took me back to his place for drinks and then… and then…"

Dominique has to take a moment to assimilate this sudden rush of information, and she wishes she could hate Teddy or Victoire but frankly she just feels a little impatient.

"So are you going to tell Teddy?" she inquires slowly, tilting her head as she regards her sister, "Seeing as it might be his?"

"No," Victoire says firmly, "Unless this thing comes out with rainbow hair I'm not telling him. It's more likely to be Matt's – the Healer's think I'm far enough along for it to be – and I've told him already. He's not speaking to me but I'm doing everything I can to make him come around. I even took Veritaserum before so he knew that I still loved him and Teddy was a mistake."

Dominique meets her mother's eyes and she can see that Fleur is equally at a loss.

"Well, I think you've got it all under control," Dominique says, slapping her hands on the table and giving Victoire a quick comforting hug, "I reckon you'll work it out."

Then she flees to her room and floos straight to her cousin Rose's house. She needs Rose's cool head and practical outlook at this point. She waves a quick hello to her Uncle Ron, who looks quite surprised at the sight of one of his nieces – she's certain he gets them all muddled – falling out of his fireplace.

She takes the steps two at a time, yelling, "Rose!" on her way up and crashing straight into her cousin's room without knocking first.

"Fucking hell!" she shrieks as she discovers Sebastian Nott shirtless and lying on top of Rose, kissing her like his life depends upon it.

"Dominique!" Rose exclaims, grabbing the duvet up to her chin and dislodging Sebastian as she sits up hurriedly. "What are you – I was just – I can – it's not what it looks like! I can explain!"

Dominique, with her hands over her eyes, backs slowly out of the room, trying not to fall over anything.

"I highly doubt that," she replies, her eyes still screwed tightly shut as she gropes blindly for the doorway, "What was it you said to me that time? Something about crucifying James?"

"I'm sorry," Rose calls, trying to grab Dominique to get her to stand still, "I was wrong and I didn't know how I felt about him and he kissed you to make me jealous and I was, I was _so _jealous, and I took it out on you and –"

"Save it," Dominique commands irritably, and then she whirls and opens her eyes and rushes downstairs and into the floo connection as quickly as she can.

"Nice seeing you!" she calls to her uncle as she disappears in a whoosh of emerald green sparks. Ron, from his armchair, wonders how many of his nieces are currently in his house, or if there's just one slightly crazy one. Unconcerned, he returns to his newspaper and doesn't even flinch when his daughter appears, looking flustered, in the doorway in just her bra and a pair of shorts.

"Your mother says to tell you that dinner is in twenty minutes," he informs her from behind the Quidditch results pages, "And that if your friend is going to stay she needs to know so she can lay an extra place."

"Alright, thanks Dad," Rose says casually, disappearing back upstairs to Sebastian before her father notices her state of undress.

Dominique, back in her room, paces for a good hour. First Victoire and Teddy, now Rose and Sebastian – she doesn't like it when people don't behave like she expects them to. The people she trusted most appear to have shown their ugly sides, and she doesn't dare go to find any of her other friends or relatives in case they're going to do something else to set her adrift.

Eventually she settles on trying to find the one person who she can always count on to be exactly the same – James is patronising and arrogant and caring, no matter what time of day you call upon him at, so she floos over to the Potters' house.

She finds it almost completely empty, and she shouts out hellos as she wanders around downstairs, smiling at the laughing photos of the family before heading upstairs and peeking into James' room. There's nobody around, so with hopes disappointed she closes James' door and goes to return slowly downstairs.

"Breaking and entering, Weasley?" a sardonic voice inquires out of nowhere, nearly giving her a heart attack as she spins on the spot, breath leaving her in a gasp. She drags it back in as she takes in Scorpius leaning nonchalantly against the doorpost of Al's room, looking the picture of innocence.

"Ditto," she snarls back, heat rushing into her cheeks as she tries to get her breath back without making it too obvious that he frightened her, "Thought you were a bit high-class for burglary."

"I'm staying here for a week," Scorpius informs her idly, tossing a tennis ball from hand to hand, "But they've all cleared out to visit their grandparent's graves. It's a tradition or something. Al tried to explain it to me but I wasn't listening."

"As usual," Dominique mutters with an eye roll, turning to go back downstairs. Most days she'd wait, but she really doesn't feel like dealing with Scorpius at the present time.

"Leaving so soon?" he calls after her, following her down the stairs, and she clenches her fists as she turns back to face him.

"Oh, sorry, I didn't realise my company was such a delight to you," she says in as light a voice as she can manage, matching his nonchalance, "You know, seeing as we've always got along _so _well in the past."

"Sarcasm doesn't suit you, Weasley," he informs her airily, moving past her and dropping into an armchair in the sitting room as though he owns the place, "You're too ginger."

"I'm not ginger, I'm a redhead," Dominique corrects automatically, moving stiffly into the sitting room after him and folding her arms as she sinks onto the sofa opposite him, not willing to back down, "And since when did hair colour dictate proficiency in sarcasm?"

"Big words," he mocks in a falsely-impressed voice, still tossing the bloody tennis ball between his hands, "Didn't think you had it in you. Wasn't your sister the Ravenclaw?"

"None of your business," she retorts from behind clenched teeth, willing him to just spontaneously combust. Unfortunately, he does no such thing, but he does glance up and meet her eyes as though drawn by the obsessive force of her loathing.

"You really do hate me, don't you," he comments in what sounds like mild surprise, one eyebrow arching coolly.

"Obviously," she grinds out, and he stares at her for a few moments longer before tossing his head back in laughter, showing off a row of perfect white teeth, and he doesn't stop laughing for a good few minutes.

"What have I done to deserve that?" he inquires finally, something a lot lighter than his usual cynicism dancing in those cold grey eyes, looking about as arrogant as it is possible for a fifteen-year-old boy to look (very, if you were wondering) as he stretches his long legs out and eyes her with interest.

"What _haven't _you done?" she demands, temper flaring hotly and leaving her leaning forward on her sofa, "You're an arrogant, callous, boorish, supercilious prat with too much money and too few manners."

"Goodness," he replies after a short silence, looking very relaxed as he lounges opposite her, very aware how much it is winding her up, "Someone _has _been swotting up on the dictionary."

"Oh, for Merlin's sake," Dominique hisses, and before he has a chance to get another word in she's hurled a handful of floo powder savagely into the flames and returned home.

Victoire is no longer crying in the kitchen, and Dominique halts in surprise at the sight of the empty kitchen, and then proceeds through to the conservatory warily. She hesitates, transfixed, in the doorway, astonished to see her mother and sister laughing joyously together, mugs of tea in each of their hands as they rejoice.

"Um, what…?" Dominique begins nervously, and Victoire turns to her with one of the biggest smiles Dominique's ever seen stretching across her face.

"It's Matt's, Dom! Mum and I did a test with this potion she has from when she had Louis, and I'm definitely too far along for it to be Teddy's. Isn't it great?"

"Uh, yeah, that's brill," Dominique congratulates, moving further into the room and flopping down onto one of the spare cushions littering the floor, suddenly exhausted from the emotional rollercoaster her day has been, "You must be so relieved."

"You have no idea," Victoire sighs, and as their eyes meet Dominique realises that she probably doesn't. She may make all these pretensions to adulthood with her scepticism and socialising and using big words, but she really doesn't have a clue what things like this mean and how to react to them.

"I was just at James' and Al's and Lily's," Dominique ventures when the silence has stretched out too long for her liking, "They were out. They left Scorpius Malfoy there by himself, can you imagine? I wouldn't leave him alone with anything I valued for more than thirty seconds."

"Why do you 'ate 'im so much?" Fleur presses curiously, and Dominique grins suddenly, her whole expression transforming instantly into something much sunnier.

"He asked me that. I wouldn't know where to begin."

Victoire laughs and shares a look with their mother that sets Dominique's nerves on edge. She leaps to her feet, mood blackening instantly, and stalks from the room, too bad-tempered to endure their fierce happiness.

This foul temper persists through to the end of the Easter holidays, and she ignores her parents' mutterings about hormones and tries instead to focus on how she's going to deal with the whole Sebastian-Rose fiasco. She has no lingering feelings for Sebastian Nott, that's for certain, but she is still utterly furious with Rose for what she said and did and for the way she made her feel on her thirteenth birthday.

Even Dominique isn't vengeful enough to just tell James, however, so she eventually capitulates to the realisation that she needs help and makes a floo call to Saoirse.

"Well, it's perfectly simple," Saoirse informs her friend as she sits cross-legged in front of Dominique's head in the flames, munching on a pear, "You need to make him see what he's missed and make Rose jealous. More jealous than you've ever made her before."

"But how do I _do _that, Finn?" Dominique inquires unhappily, shifting as her knees start to go dead back in her bedroom, "It's impossible, Rose has everything."

"Rose isn't one-eighth Veela," Saoirse replies pointedly, and then grins ferally and adds in a low voice, "Evie, me, Stasia if she'll consent to it – we're going to… help you realise your full potential."

"What do you mean?" Dominique asks uncertainly, gazing up in confusion at her friend.

"You'll see," Saoirse replies mysteriously, adding, "Come to my house the night before school starts and you'll find out."

Bewildered, Dominique agrees and returns to her own room, wondering what on Earth Saoirse is on about.


	5. chapter v

**a/n**: there will be a longer break between chapters from now on I'm afraid, since on Friday I'm off to the Caribbean without access to a computer and I suck at writing things out by hand because my handwriting is so appalling that it embarrasses me.

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><p><span>inlustrum<span>

somebody calls you, you answer quite slowly,  
>a girl with kaleidoscope eyes.<br>- _Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds, The Beatles_

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><p>chapter five : (4801)<p>

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><p>The night of August 31st, Dominique is lying on a mattress on the floor of Saoirse's room, watching the clock ticking down the minutes to September 1st, hearing Anastasia' muffled snoring from her left and Evie's sleeping mutters from beyond Anastasia, and Saoirse's even, steady breathing elevated in the bed to her right. This nightly chorus is one that Dominique has become used to – Anastasia's snoring kept her awake at first, but now she finds the nights of the holidays unbearably quiet without the steady, rhythmic drone, interspersed by murmurs from Evie, a sleep-talker.<p>

Her hair is bound into very tight rollers, and she is the most uncomfortable she thinks she has ever been. Craning her neck upwards, resisting the temptation to roll over – she knows she's been tossing and turning and she doesn't want to wake the others up – her mind wanders to thoughts of what she's going to attempt in the morning.

The other three girls earlier that day, after forcing her to shower and scrub herself to within an inch of her life, conspired to bind her – with the terribly amused help of Saoirse's brother Eoghan, who offered his magic in return for the humour gained from watching Dominique struggle, spitting remarkable mouthfuls of expletives at him – to a chair in the middle of the room. After that he was banished, and Saoirse and Anastasia set to waxing Dominique's legs while Evie started organising the yards of her hair into rollers.

All three had been very impressed with the extent of Dominique's vocabulary of swearwords as they slowly de-haired her legs and then moved onto her eyebrows, showing absolutely no mercy and not the slightest outward display of fear as she threatened dire retributions until Saoirse demanded impatiently, "D'you want revenge or not?"

After that, Dominique restricted herself to short, vehement outbursts whenever more hairs were uprooted violently from her body, and Evie, Saoirse, and Anastasia now have a very interesting complement of Muggle curses to add to their repertoire of wizarding ones.

Now, in bed, as the minute hand of the luminous clock on Saoirse's wall marches inexorably onwards, Dominique rubs her legs against each other once again to feel the astonishing silkiness of her now-hairless skin, the rest of her body feeling luxuriously soft, responding to all the creams and moisturisers she was forced to rub into herself. She has to admit, she really feels like a girl for the first time since her thirteenth birthday. Now fourteen (and a _half_, the childish voice inside her insists querulously), she feels she is ready to become one of those older girls that in her first and second years she envied dreadfully, with boys eager to impress them and who always look pretty.

In the darkness, she rolls over onto her side and gazes up at the door, where her outfit is laid out ready for the morning. For the first time, the phrase "home-clothes" means a skirt rather than jeans, and Dominique finds herself oddly excited to wear some of the clothes Victoire spent so long helping her pick out earlier in the summer.

A pretty navy lace bra hangs with the rest of the clothes, the novelty of actually _needing _a bra still pretty thrilling – she'd been convinced, for a good while, that she was going to be the _only girl in the whole world _who would never develop breasts, but they'd started to emerge around May and now she's secretly anticipating with delight the surprise of the boys when she turns up tomorrow actually _with _boobs. It'll be a nice change.

Dominique rouses from her preoccupation as Saoirse gives a sharp gasp in her sleep and rolls over, obviously plagued by some unconscious terror. Dominique knows her friend suffers from nightmares, so she reaches up and comfortingly takes hold of Saoirse's hand where it dangles out from underneath her bedclothes.

Still asleep, Saoirse grips back, and Dominique is pleased to have given comfort. She's still wondering how she's going to repay these three for all their troubles that afternoon. Maybe she can talk Uncle George into giving her some WWW products to give them.

She smiles at the thought and shuts her eyes, finally blocking out the ticking clock, hand still in Saoirse's, and somehow she's asleep almost instantly.

She's woken up the next morning at some ungodly hour – five-thirty, the clock says – by one of Saoirse's older sisters, Siobhan, who crashes the bedroom door open and unleashes all eight of the Finnigan family's dogs on the sleeping girls inside.

"Bloody hell, Vaun!" Saoirse shrieks as Darla the Dalmatian takes a flying leap onto her stomach, tongue slobbering everywhere as the three girls on the floor take the brunt of the stampede, Dominique targeted by no less than three of the dogs. Grunting as Patsy the golden retriever puts a paw into her bladder and Jacques the West Highland White Terrier scrabbles at her shoulder, Dominique ends up laughing hysterically at the sight of Anastasia cornered by the two red setters, Handbags and Gladrags, tucking Jacques under one arm as she heads over to rescue the other girl.

As Evie tries to remove Flotsam, the ancient cocker spaniel, from her pillow, Dominique and Saoirse manage to drag Darla, Patsy, Handbags, Jacques, and Terror the black Labrador out of the room. They leave Evie to cope with Flotsam, who is fast asleep, and instead focus on capturing Gladrags. The setter is wily, however, and there ensues a merry game (for Gladrags) that results in the rest of the family being woken up.

Seamus Finnigan, who still can't quite believe he's ended up with seven children, sits bolt upright next to his wife Lavender as he hears a crash from a room along the corridor.

"Go see what's happened," Lavender orders in a mumble, rolling over and sticking a pillow over her head. Groaning, Seamus clambers out of bed and staggers half-awake down the corridor to his youngest daughter's room, not registering the mass of dogs scrabbling at the door until he's in their midst.

Taking a deep breath, he thunders, "_KITCHEN_!" in his best alpha-male voice, and the dogs skitter off down the stairs as fast as they can. There's another crash from inside the room, so Seamus wrenches the door open.

"Saoirse, are you –"

He stops short, unable to quite believe the sight in front of his eyes. One small blonde girl is tugging futilely on her pillow which is pinned under a sleeping cocker spaniel, and his daughter and her best friend Dominique Weasley are bounding around the room after the setter Gladrags while another girl is on the floor in the corner in a dead faint.

"What the bloody hell, Saoirse?" Seamus demands as the setter careers joyously around a corner, leaping onto Saoirse's bed and woofing in delight at the game. Saoirse and Dominique skid to a halt, finally noticing his presence in the doorway.

"Uh, we were – that is, Siobhan, she – um…" Saoirse tries, and Seamus can only stare at them in quiet shock. Saoirse is quite a sight, with her sandy curls everywhere and her green eyes bloodshot and tired, her pyjama top ripped across her stomach and her legs scratched from Darla's attack. Dominique is even worse, half her hair coming out of the rollers and tumbling in an unwieldy mass of red around her pale face, grey eyes still looking half-asleep as she passes an arm across them as if to wake herself up.

"Gladrags, _come_," Seamus bellows, and meek as a lamb the dog bounds off the bed and skips over to him, looking about as smug as a dog can look as Seamus wordlessly leaves the room. Flotsam the cocker spaniel at this point decides to cooperate, and leaps off Evie's pillow with a bark to follow her master downstairs.

"Oh my _God_," Dominique exhales weakly, flopping back onto Saoirse's bed, "Those aren't dogs, they're _hyenas_. And your dad saw me in my pyjamas, that's so embarrassing!"

Saoirse just looks down at her, and then across at Evie, and the next second they're all laughing uproariously.

"Shit, Stasia!" Saoirse exclaims suddenly, and they all shoot to the corner where Anastasia is lying.

"Stace, wake up," Dominique says, poking her in the shoulder, "C'mon, the dogs are gone."

Gradually, with the other three giving her gentle slaps on the cheek and not-so-gentle pokes in the ribs, Anastasia comes around, clutching her head.

"I _hate _dogs," she decides weakly, and that sets them all off again, almost asphyxiating themselves from laughing so hard.

By the time any of them has stopped laughing they don't feel like going back to sleep, so instead they start to get ready to head to King's Cross. They fight over the bathroom, and Anastasia (as usual) wins, so the other three are left to get dressed. Once dressed, feeling uncomfortable and exposed in her skirt, Dominique heads out to wait for the bathroom.

A wolf-whistle alerts her from where she's nearly fallen back to sleep against the wall, and she blinks and then glares as Eoghan pads down the corridor towards her.

"Well fuck me, Weasley, you're actually a _girl_," he exclaims with a grin, taking her hand and giving her a 360 spin to admire her.

"Piss off," Dominique mutters, but she's flushing with pleasure despite herself. Eoghan looks like he can't quite believe it, taking a handful of her red curls in one hand and tossing them upwards. Thanks to the rollers, they keep their shape, bouncing against her waist as they come down.

"Damn, if you were a few years older," Eoghan says regretfully, laughter dancing in his pretty green eyes, and Dominique arches one eyebrow up at him.

"If you were a few years _younger_, you mean," she corrects with a grin, giving him a long-lashed wink. Eoghan laughs at that, and ruffles her hair in a patronising gesture.

"Remember," he says, his face suddenly deadly serious in a mocking fashion that reminds her of Lysander, "Always use protection."

Dominique blushes but isn't willing to let him take the upper hand, so she just rolls her eyes and tries for a nonchalant hand-on-hip pose, "Trust you to lower the tone of the conversation."

"It's my most lovable feature," he informs her with a grin, and then chuckles again and disappears off down the hallway to go wherever it was he was heading for originally when he got distracted.

Dominique watches him go, secretly very pleased, and then tugs her top up self-consciously, worrying her bra is showing.

"Bathroom's free," Anastasia announces a few moments later as she breezes out, already made up for the day ahead, chestnut hair pulled up into a high ponytail – she's been modelling herself on some popular Muggle singer lately.

"Cheers," Dominique replies, and shoots in before someone else can come to try to wrest it from her.

;;

Several arguments and a portkey and taxi ride later, Dominique is standing next to Saoirse on platform 9 of King's Cross, waiting for their turn to go through the barrier to Platform 9¾.

"What if this doesn't work?" Dominique demands for what must be the fortieth time that morning. Saoirse doesn't even deign to reply this time, just starts to push her own trolley towards the platform, following her older siblings Niall and Romola by a minute or so.

Dominique, with a sigh, follows her, her owl hooting in a distinctly unimpressed tone as they hurtle towards the brick wall.

"How many times have you done that now?" Dominique asks it as they come out onto Platform 9¾. It merely ruffles its black feathers and blinks its great amber eyes at her to signify its disapproval. Dominique sticks her tongue out at it, then suddenly feels herself grabbed from behind.

"Put me down!" she shrieks, smacking the strong, tanned forearms around her waist, but there's low laughter in her ear and suddenly she's dumped back on her feet, spinning instantly to identify her attacker.

"So," Lysander says, folding her arms and eyeing her without a flicker of surprise, "You're a girl now."

"You've got muscles," Dominique retorts, grinning despite her attempts to stay serious, "And – jeez, how much did you grow?"

"Three inches," he replies proudly, as though this is something he had to work very hard towards achieving, "Half an inch more than Lorcan."

"You're like an actual _boy _now," she informs him in shock, almost repeating his sentence to her barely two minutes before, gazing up into his laughing greeny-blue eyes as he pushes his blonde curls out of them.

"So did you shrink or what?" he asks as she starts to push her trolley towards the train, "There's something different about you."

"You grew, you moron," Dominique replies impatiently, wondering if she should draw his attention to the fact that she's wearing make up for the first time, then deciding against it, "I'm not shrinking."

"No, no, I've got it," he announces suddenly, snapping his fingers, "You got _boobs_."

"Merlin, Lysander, please say it louder," Dominique mumbles as several heads turn their way, wrapping her cardigan self-consciously around herself, "I don't think the priest heard you."

"Blah, blah, blah," he teases, and then abruptly collars somebody out of the crowd with a beam, "Hey, Tristan, look, Dominique has boobs now!"

"Ly_sander_," Dominique hisses, giving him a punch in the arm as Tristan steadies himself, ready to be embarrassed as she turns her attention to Tristan but finding herself surprised instead, "Bloody hell, you grew too!"

"Yup," Tristan replies proudly, running a hand through his hair, "I outgrew my whole wardrobe."

Dominique, unable to stop staring at him, can hardly believe that this is the same boy she said goodbye to in June – suddenly tall, with his shoulders filled out and his eyes a very bright blue under his brown fringe, he's certainly shot up about a million places in her Ranking of Hotness.

"Whoa," is about all Dominique can manage, but then they're distracted by Saoirse, who returns out of the crowd where she'd disappeared some time before to find her sisters, dragging Dominique's cousin James along behind her.

"So," she says to James the minute she's arrived at their little group, gesturing towards Dominique, "What d'you thi– bloody hell, Tristan, you've grown!"

As Saoirse admires Tristan's newly-acquired good-looks, Dominique glares at James.

"Don't say it," she threatens firmly as, behind her, Lysander smirks and James just mouths in fury.

"But… but… but – how am I supposed to stop boys going after you now?" James demands apoplectically, looking like he wants to hit something, "Merlin, it was bad enough before, now I'll just have to follow you everywhere! Like I don't have enough on my plate with Lily suddenly announcing she's got a boyfriend, now I have _you _as well!"

"You know," Dominique points out amiably as they all start to head towards the train, "You could just _not _be an overprotective buffoon for a while, see how that works out."

"Are you insane?" James inquires hotly, and Dominique is just mulling over the best response to this when James is distracted by the sight of his best friend Jenny struggling to get her trunk onto the trunk a couple of doors down.

"Go help," Dominique commands, seeing an opportunity to be rid of him. With one more glare and a hissed, "Don't _make _me come chaperone you," James disappears.

"I thought I had it bad with my brothers," Saoirse comments with a grin as they get all their trunks aboard, commandeering the first empty compartment they find, "But, hey, at least we know we've achieved the desired effect, huh?"

"You look great, Dom," Tristan tells her as they settle into their seats, eyes warm as he smiles, "Really. I almost didn't recognise you."

"Thanks," Dominique mutters to the floor, flushing, suddenly unsure how to handle herself around him now he's grown up from that weedy boy with the sticky-up hair and clumsiness.

"Dom and Tristan, sitting in a tree," Lysander sings quietly into her ear, spectacularly out-of-tune, "K-I-S-S-I – _ow_!"

Dominique pats the place where she's just punched him with mock sympathy, and then turns her attention to where Saoirse is arguing with Jake, who's just arrived, about whether Lanzarote or Bali is a better holiday destination.

By the time the train is twenty minutes out of the station, they've been joined in their compartment by Lucy, Lorcan, Grace, and three other Hufflepuffs, a girl called Kitty and two boys called Rupert and Paul.

Dominique is having a conversation about – weirdly – broccoli with Grace and Rupert when suddenly their compartment door slides open and her cousin Lily appears, green eyes bright beneath her frown.

"Lysander," she says without preamble, "I need you."

Apparently oblivious to the way this looks, Lysander heaves himself up off the bench and disappears out of the compartment after her. The others all watch him leave, then turn to each other as if for an explanation.

"They're really good friends," Lucy says finally, looking quite surprised that nobody's noticed this before, "He's the only boy who's not scared of her."

Dominique glances from Lucy to the place where Lily and Lysander disappeared, bewildered for a moment, but then shrugs and returns to her conversation. Lysander reappears with Lily in tow after twenty minutes or so, the pair of them looking unutterably smug, and Dominique is about to ask what's going on when suddenly there are a great number of shouts from further down the train.

Rushing to the door, Dominique sticks her head out and finds other people doing likewise as they all try to locate the source of the clamour. It soon emerges that _someone_ (Lily and Lysander snicker at the back of the compartment) has filled three or four compartments full of a special brand of flour available from Weasley's Wizard Wheezes that sticks to whatever it can, leaving twenty or so people and lots of suitcases plastered in thick white powder that won't come off.

"You two wouldn't happen to know anything about this, would you?" Lorcan inquires sternly of his twin and Lily as they sit next to each other, quite helpless with laughter.

"'Course not," Lily shoots back instantly.

"Yeah, we wish we could think of pranks that creative," Lysander adds, and Dominique has to stifle sniggers behind her hand as she notices Saoirse sitting next to Lorcan, red with the effort of not laughing at the duo.

;;

By the Sorting feast, the victims have been de-floured (Dominique and Saoirse laugh at the sexual innuendo in this for a good five minutes) and the headmaster has read out a stern warning to the perpetrators as Lily, sitting at the Slytherin table, looks the picture of shocked innocence while Lysander busies himself with building a tower of juice glasses.

Pranks of this nature continue throughout the first term of Dominique's fourth year, and by the end of it she has to admit to being enormously impressed that Lily and Lysander have escaped detection for so long. They get caught for the odd thing, but nobody has yet connected them to the greater string.

James has been made Quidditch captain, despite only being a Sixth Year, and Dominique pulls off a flawless Beater trial with her old teammate, Andrew Somers, who spends far longer staring at the expanse of long leg she's displaying under her shorts than concentrating on the game. They both make the team despite this, and after an extremely impressive trial, tiny Second Year Molly makes Keeper.

There are mutterings about family favouritism – there are now four Weasleys (well, three Weasleys and one Potter) – on the team, but at the first match Gryffindor steamrollers Ravenclaw, Molly saving all but one of the goals, her tiny form somehow in exactly the right place every time, and the mutterings turn into full-fledged roars of delight at this perfect team. They gel brilliantly, everyone has to admit, like one massive Quidditch-playing machine rather than a team of seven rather loud individuals.

As the term rolls on, Dominique starts to enjoy the hungry stares of boys as she walks past, her new school uniform (picked out by Anastasia, which is a lot smaller than her previous set) drawing eyes, and she no longer has to be hassled to wear dresses or skirts – she positively enjoys it.

She gets a letter on October 22nd from Victoire telling her that she's now aunt to a bouncing baby girl with a big smile and brown eyes, called Leonora, and that Dominique is wanted at Victoire and Matt's wedding as Maid of Honour.

She scans the letter four times, toast frozen halfway to her mouth, and then she turns to the nearest person with a cry of delight.

"It's a girl!" she shrieks to Jake, ignoring his wince and throwing her arms around his neck, "It's a girl! And they're getting married!"

Jake, nonplussed, hugs her back until she releases him and sprints out of the Great Hall in a blaze of sleep-ruffled red hair and high spirits. She crashes into Gryffindor Tower, yelling Tristan's name as she hurries across the room and straight up the stairs to the boys' dorms.

She barely knocks before throwing herself through the door, squealing and covering her eyes as she comes face-to-face – or rather, face-to-chest – with Lysander, who has only got a towel wrapped around his waist.

"I know you'd come around, Nicky baby," he croons teasingly, advancing towards her with his arms outstretched, using a really appalling American accent, "My charm is just too great for you to resist. Let's go to bed, what d'ya say?"

"Fuck off," Dominique giggles, keeping her eyes screwed shut as she gives him a shove away, "I want Tristan."

"I _bet _you do," Isaac mumbles sleepily from his bed, rolling over and grinning idly at her, "Gonna take him to a broom cupboard and have your wicked way with him, huh?"

"You're infuriating," Dominique informs the pair, crossing her arms and tapping her foot impatiently, then casts her eyes around at the other boys in the dormitory, expression imploring, "Will _you _tell me where he is?"

"Shower," Tom informs her with a smirk from where he's tying his tie in the corner, "I'm sure he wouldn't mind if you went and joined him."

"Do you guys ever think about _anything_ other than sex?" Dominique inquires helplessly, throwing her arms up and then crossing the room, pushing past a sniggering Henry, and pounding on the bathroom door.

After a few moments of beating at the door, it is yanked open and Tristan appears, soaking wet, with his hair sticking up at every angle and a towel around his waist.

"_What_?" he demands irritably, rubbing his eyes to get the soap out, "I know I haven't been in here longer than – oh, Dominique, hi. What are you doing up here?"

"They had the baby," she informs him, trying to make sure her eyes stay on his face, rather than drifting down to his surprisingly well-toned torso, "It's a girl, Leonora. And they're getting married! How brilliant is that?"

"Really?" he asks in surprise, looking like the news hasn't quite sunk in, "Did they – write to you or what?"

"Yeah, the letter from Vic came this morning. She was born on Tuesday, healthy. Apparently she's got Matt's eyes."

Tristan suddenly gives a whoop of delight, seizing Dominique into a hug, ignoring her wriggling protests at the fact that he's all wet, and squeezes her tightly as the other boys all catcall.

When he places her down on her feet a little sheepishly, Dominique staggers to regain her footing and then looks down a little despondently at her now damp clothes.

"Sorry," Tristan mutters, looking abashed, "I'll just – I need to finish my shower."

"Dom and Tristan, sitting in a tree," Lysander sings loudly from his corner, and Dominique whirls on him with a snarl. Four seconds later, he's bright gold and looking down at himself in surprise.

"Damnit," Dominique mutters, "I meant to get you with a jelly-legs hex."

With that, she flees, ignoring his laughter and that of the other boys and hurrying down the stairs. She meets Rose when she's halfway across the common room, almost running into the other girl.

"Dom, wait," Rose calls, chasing after her cousin – Dominique has been avoiding her spectacularly since the beginning of term – and grabbing her by the arm, "Can we talk?"

"Not today, Rose," Dominique replies firmly, shaking her arm to try to get Rose to release it, "I don't want my good mood ruined. You and Sebastian are at perfect liberty to do whatever you choose."

"It's not – I don't…" Rose tries, but Dominique merely gives a massive yank of her arm and hurries out of the portrait hole, running to make sure she loses Rose, paying no attention to where she's going.

Emotions all awhirl, Dominique finds herself wandering a part of the castle she's never been in before, aware that she's probably missing her first lesson but not able to find it within herself to care. She wouldn't learn anything anyway, since it's History of Magic.

She's heading idly down a corridor, starting to dry off thanks to the warmth of the torches lit all along to help out on the cloudy day, when suddenly a girl wanders out a broom cupboard up ahead of her, readjusting her skirt and giving a little wave to whoever's in the cupboard behind her before vanishing around a corner.

Amused, Dominique's eyebrows fly upward as she waits for the other person to appear. She's walked closer when he does so, and she freezes dead as she recognises Scorpius.

"Ah, Weasley," he says airily as he spots her, wiping lipstick off his cheek and doing his tie up, grinning, "Haven't seen you in a while."

"Shame," Dominique comments, gritting her teeth, wondering why it had to be today of all days that he's found her, "I certainly didn't intend that or anything."

"Touchy," he replies, smiling his perfect, cold smile, falling into step beside her like she actually wants him there, "I've been meaning to talk to you, actually. I didn't believe the rumours that you'd turned out hot, but I saw you around and had to admit I was wrong. Usually that would bother me, but this time it doesn't."

Trying to work out if she's just been complimented, Dominique stares down at the floor as she continues to march purposefully onwards, hoping he'll leave her alone.

"Come now, Weasley, don't be like that," he says cajolingly, taking her arm and hooking it into his, laughing as she pulls it away as though she's been scalded, "You and I, we should be friends. We'd be good together."

"Nothing involving you is good," Dominique spits at him, turning to glare up at him, ponytail flying, "Nothing ever, okay? I would _never _be friends with you."

"Wow, something really has got your wand in a knot," he responds coolly, still smirking in that infuriating manner, "Care to share?"

"With you? Never," Dominique retorts firmly, lengthening her stride and wishing he'd leave her alone.

"I sense I'm irritating you," he comments to her as though he is confiding a great secret, bending his head towards her, "Am I correct?"

"If I took your wand and shoved it up your arse," Dominique responds angelically, "Would that be a sufficient answer for you?"

"Kinky," he drawls, and Dominique flushes bright red this time, cursing him internally for making her feel like a child again.

"Haven't you got some horses to boast about to someone who cares?" she inquires of him after a short silence, anything to stop his train of thought going any further.

He's suddenly _alive _next to her, gaining a small spring in his step, his voice lifting out of his customary drawl into something much warmer as he smiles – actually _smiles _rather than smirks – and launches into a description of some new horse he's bought, called Chlorophyll or something. Dominique risks a glance up at him as he articulates, gesturing with his hands to demonstrate something, astonished to find his eyes bright and tender as he stares into the middle-distance, seeing the beast in his mind's eye. Dominique, who hates horses, cannot believe that an animal could inspire this level of devotion in a boy like this.

"Alas," he says suddenly, cutting himself off, reverting to his usual over-formal inflection which he knows particularly annoys her, "I'm boring you, and I have a lesson to go to. Until next time, my little walking temper-tantrum."

"I'm not your little _anything_, you pompous arse!" Dominique shouts after him, hands balled into fists, fuming with hatred. She storms off in the opposite direction, headed for Ancient Runes, and all the while in her head there is playing a little loop of him with his eyes full of love.


End file.
